Love Is In The Blair

[IF YOU HAVEN'T READ ANY BACKGROUND ON THIS YOU CAN FIND  PART 1: "THE LEAD UP" AND PARE 2: "THE STREETS". ] I have 5 main takeaways from this experience. 1.  Many people ask, “How could a good and loving God let bad things happen to good people?”  I’ve heard this cry from people before as to why they refuse to follow the Christian God.  Well, God has called us to act, to be His hands and feet.  It makes no sense for us to cross our arms in disgust at a “good” God, as we sit upon what we falsely assume to be a moral “high ground” doing NOTHING!  (Don’t get me wrong, we can’t earn our way into relationship with God, but the fruit of His children certainly isn’t idly letting evil occur). 2.  Some people might not be cold, but might have the misconception that they can’t help, or just may not know how.  The majority of us can’t claim ignorance of the problem, but some of us are lazy enough that we don’t find out how to help, so we chose to remai

[YOU CAN FIND PART 1 HERE.] The Streets:    We stood on the street corners for those that are forced to work the corners, dark alleys, and backrooms.  We spoke out for those confined to cages and locked rooms, many of which have been there since younger than 10 years old, and some of which STILL are younger than 10 years old.  We were a face for those forced to be soldiers, and for those forced to work fields, brick factories, or even to service, what usually amounts to, man after man after man sexually.  We didn’t free any of them directly, but we were trying to enlist “civilians” in the battle. “Men, women, and, worst of all, children are literally forced into labor and sex slavery, and you can help just by knowing what to look out for,” was more or less our refrain of the weekend. “I’m good.” “I’m Okay.” “No thanks.” Those words served as the all-too-frequent echo we’d hear back, as if we were offering information on some new cell service plan. Photo

Preface: A few weeks back I posted, “Calling All Men (and Women).”   This is a call back to that event, a reflection on parts of the experience of proclaiming the uncomfortable truth of modern day slavery in Atlanta during the Men’s Final Four.  I don’t pretend to think that human trafficking is the sole problem in the world, but it certainly is atrocious. Face:   The Lead Up : The idea came to me fairly late in the game, but I must admit some disappointment that there were never more than 2 of us out there (and one person joined me twice).  I’m not saying that I have any more “holy” place than you if you didn’t go. Now I realize a few things.   I know others were involved in fighting this in other ways this particular weekend.  It was also only a call to be there to men, so women are a little more “off-the-hook.”  Some had other plans already laid out and other responsibilities to attend to.  Some of you aren’t even in Georgia.  Admittedly, I’ve certainly not share

This is an Event… Not just a blog to read.  There is a call to action. The Problem: Sin, but let’s narrow that down for a moment… Labor and sex slavery.  It’s real.  It’s here.  Yes, even the great “Christian Nation” America is not immune from this black spot on our species.  Men, women, and children are slaves.  They are forced into labor.  They are forced into sex.  Beyond that, even their captors and those that purchase their “services” are slaves, not in a physical sense, but at the VERY LEAST in a spiritual sense, living their lives chasing a lie and in the process enslaving others as a result of their chasing of “self.”  We have the tendency to hate them, but we must remember we have been forgiven of much, and if THAT is not enough let us look to the use and transformation of Saul/Paul (a murderer and persecutor of the church), David (murderer and adulterer), and Moses (murderer), amongst many others.  What if we were able to not only mobilize those ignorant or i