Generation J

So the other night, I came across videos from the Freedom Summit held earlier this year. The Freedom Summit was a conference that brought together many different Christian communities with the same goal...abolish modern day slavery in its many forms. One of the speakers, David Barstone (author of Not For Sale, which I recommend!)was speaking about how he would like this current generation to be labeled Generation J or Generation Justice. I loved it. Hopefully, that will be what this generation is all about. His calling began when he discovered that one of his favorite restaurants in his town was multi-tasking. They were trafficking boys and girls for forced labor and sex acts. How crazy. Here in America? You would be shocked.
Ok, a few "numbers." There are about 27 million people enslaved around the world right now. This number is higher than 400 years of the transatlantic slave trade. Human trafficking comes in third under illicit trade of drugs and weapons, but is growing faster than both of these. An estimated 50% of the victims are children and 80% are women. Why don't we hear more about it? I don't have an answer to that. Maybe it is because we don't want to know. There are times that I am thinking about these girls and reading about their stories and I just want to STOP. Maybe if I stop thinking about it it will go away? Or it won't be so depressing? But that's not what God calls us to. He doesn't say that when things look bleak or evil to just go about our day like it isn't happening. God would never turn His back on us and I KNOW that while we are here on this earth for SUCH A SHORT time He is simply asking us to help. Think back to Sunday school when you were little. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you were locked in the basement of a brothel, never seeing the light of day, and forced to have sex 10 times a day with different men, would you want someone out there to be looking for a way to help? I know I would. My first step is buying Fair Trade when I can. My next step...not quite sure. I am definitely praying about it. Maybe one day I will be blogging on my way to Cambodia or Thailand? I know that wouldn't be easy to do (for many reasons) but God doesn't ask us to do anything that's easy. Why would we need Him then? I like that about Him. He always knows how to remind me that I can't do it all on my own. It never works out right anyway....I'd rather do it His way.