It’s Human Trafficking Awareness Month right now. Did your heart just sink a little when you read that? It’s a hard realization, to recognize that beyond even the visible hurts and problems we see in our communities is an entire hidden world of them, a world where the vulnerable are not only not cared for but are horribly exploited. It’s generally easier to distance ourselves from this knowledge, but that is not our calling. So, because that is not our calling, I am sharing two articles today. The first is “When Backpage.com Peddles Schoolgirls for Sex” by Nicholas Kristof, author of Half the Sky (click on the book title for the Half the Sky website and here for a post I wrote that is partly about this book). Kristof is well known for his impassioned research, investigation, and writing in this area.

The second article is by Carolyn Custis James, whom I had the pleasure of hearing speak a  couple months ago (though on a totally unrelated topic). Its title is “Teenagers Sold ‘Like Pizza’–What Will Your Church Do?”  Custis James pulls no punches and this is an interesting read. She ends with the question: What will you do?

What will you do? That’s a hard question, not only because this is a hard issue but because there are so many hurts and epidemics about which we can ask the same question. This week alone I’ve been asked much the same question regarding the underground Church, orphaned children in Uganda, and victims of Hurricane Matthew. I don’t know the exact answer to “What will I do?” but I do know the answer to “What must I not do?” in relation to all areas of brokenness. The answer to that question is, “I must not grow numb. I must not hide. I must not shield myself from difficult truths and realities.”

This difficult position can feel like limbo, so I share one more post, a very short one by pastor-blogger John Piippo titled “You Don’t Need to Know Where You Are Going.” It’s a good reminder.

Blessings, all.

Jen