Wrecked

Wrecked.

Wrecked is the only word that comes to mind in this moment.  As I sit here wrestling, STILL, with everything I saw and experienced last weekend, wrecked is the only explanation that I can come up with as I try to process it all.

We spend our lives working toward putting ourselves in the "best" situation possible when it comes to our well-being.  We seek out the safest towns, the best schools, the most reputable childcare, the friendliest church, the highest paying job, the best neighborhood, and on and on.  We work hard providing for our families and play even harder on the weekend.  We save our money for the next biggest toy, trip, house, whatever.  And we're pleased with ourselves when we vote for the right candidate, pay our taxes, go to church every week, and tithe our 10 percent.  But at the end of the day, how can we answer this question...

What kind of legacy am I leaving?

Or for those of us who claim to be Christians...

What kind of legacy am I leaving in the name of Jesus and for the cause of Christ?

I can't quit thinking about the faces I saw last weekend.  Those looks of complete hopelessness, total despair, and pain and anger and frustration.  Those looks of brokenness that scream, "I have been forgotten."  I can't get them out of my head.

As we sit behind our computer screens and make our political statements via Facebook on gun control, illegal immigration, and current politicians, it doesn't even occur to us that there is a real war happening on the streets of our very own neighborhoods.  Women, girls for crying out loud, are being sold into a modern-day slave trade.  And we do nothing but look down our noses at them assuming they are where they are because of their own personal decisions.  And this is just what we do with the faces we see and the information we've been given.  But what about the stories we haven't even heard?  Is it even ok to use the excuse that we just didn't know?

I've been doing my own investigation and here's what I'm coming up with...

All around the world, girls are being falsely filled with hope as men promise them a bright future with money and jobs.  These impoverished families sell all of their belongings just to scrape up enough money to support their daughters as they, too, believe these men who promise them a new land with new opportunities.  These girls who have dreamed their whole lives to become nurses and teachers board ships with bags in hand and head to a far away land believing that their dreams have finally come true.

As they enter their new land with hope and eagerness, their dreams become quickly shattered.  Most of them, within the first few hours of entering a new city, are kidnapped by a mob of men who take them into a dark room in a far away place and beat and rape each of them one by one.  These women, whose eyes once contained light and life, are forced to escape to a dark place deep inside themselves as they merely survive day to day in conditions that are not suitable for animals.  These girls, who once played with baby dolls and danced safely within the arms of their own daddies, are forced to service up to 40 men a day meeting requests that are too atrocious for me to even write about.  Their families have no idea of their captivity, and they become lost and forgotten in a world of evil and darkness.

Wrecked. 

It's all I know to say as these thoughts consume my mind and my heart.  If it were me, if it were my daughter or my sister or my mother, I would want someone to fight for me.  I want to fight.  Please pray for me, friends.  Pray the Lord will speak and make His will known.  Until then, I know I can help fight this hellish war on my knees.  And you can too!  Please join me...

Father God,
Your Word is perfect and needs no extra commentary.  Straight from the mouth of God, I echo the same..."The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.  They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."  (Isaiah 61:1-3)  MAY IT BE SO, FATHER GOD!  Use me, Lord.  Here am I - send me!
In the mighty name of the One who saved me from death, my Savior Jesus Christ - Amen!