I hate bandwagons. My home country seems to be particularly plagued with them....a popular speaker or preacher rising on the bandwagon swell, or a book that everyone is reading and quickly modeling their lives after, an approach to eating that is condescending to others who eat differently, a way to educate your children that excludes those who've chosen or felt led to walk a different path.....m...aybe it is because I have lived in Asia for so long and relish being different but everything in me longs to rebel into being conformed to someone else idea of what is right for them and everyone around them.
Having said all that I am on a bandwagon. I want to see slavery and sex trafficking end. I've honestly hesitated as it seems to be the latest 'thing'.....and if everyone else is doing it then generally I don't want to.....but I think this surge and passion of outrage is from many (some captives themselves) praying ceaselessly that this scourge that has gone on unnoticed for too long will be noticed, that the heavenly realms will be pounded with pleas for help, that laws will be changed by the uprising and that women and children will be rescued.
Currently we are not uprooting our family to dwell in the red light districts of the world or standing outside orphanages in the former Soviet Union to grab those precious girls from certain trafficking or opening a rescue house in Nepal, Cambodia or Thailand....although I would do it in a heartbeat given the chance (Lord send me!). For now I am praying specifically for regions where it is the biggest problem and rescued girls I know by name, giving to ministries and organizations that are doing what I currently cannot and unashamedly posting all the information I can to raise awareness.
Wow I did not mean this to become an epistle......but there you have it.
Yesterday we said goodbye to our constant companion of eight years....I knew this day would come but because of a family crisis it came more abruptly than we expected. Riza has been with me through many trials and triumphs - new mother of two in a foreign place, birth if two babies, moves through six cities, death of my mother - seeing me at my best and worst and a faithful, faithful friend and help through it all. I feel a part of my heart is torn.
