You see, worshiping with God is literally like having the biggest, most amazing party in the universe. God has given us that invitation, and sometimes, we think our lives are too busy or more important and therefore God invites people who we deem "less" than us. But I want I got from that message was that we are the messengers God uses to send out these invitations, and quite frankly I did not send out nearly enough invitations to the people I care most about.
So I pledged I would do a missions trip in 2013, and somehow it did not work out the way I "planned".
Then, God gave me a chance to go to NYCUP Spring Break, where I plunged myself into the work of fighting human trafficking and sexual exploitation as well as seeing first hand the victims and possible abusers. While some of my friends went to brothels and learned about how to identify traffickers and those trafficked, I went to a low-income school to see where most of these abusers found their prey. In one week, I cried and laughed, and really experienced things that I take for granted everyday. At the school, the kids are either in foster homes or at risk of being in foster homes, so their lives were broken in ways I could not even image how to fix. What I had to keep telling myself was that God had them in His heart way before I did and will continue to love them even after I sorrowfully left them.
We were not allowed to speak of Jesus in the school but had to show them the love of Christ nonetheless. At a fair at the end of the week, we gave so many of these kids opportunities to find Jesus when the community and the adults in their lives could not. I even had a hands-on experience facing pedophiles and abusers in the community and area that prey on these children, and it shook me because these children, these babies, saw this man everyday and called him "Uncle". Sure, I could stop him that day, but what kept him away every other day? It angered me, because in my broken life, I kept blaming myself for all the evil the world did, and I never want to see these kids even come close to that. However, my little world was not done being shaken. While communing with my fellow peers and brothers and sisters in Christ, we watched great and eye-opening documentaries such as, Miss Representation and Notorious: Merchant of Souls. Once again, my little world was nothing compared the the sorrows or others...
I first took part in the fight against human trafficking in the spring of my freshman year in college, where I had the opportunity to stand in cages and really open the eyes of my campus to the enormous amount of humans slaves we have today. I knew of it, but it always seemed distant or in some other country just like famine and war. But New York City is a hub for both the beautiful culture and diverse people of the world as it is a market place of humans. Watching these documentaries and seeing the smiling faces of kids who simply found someone to play with for an afternoon, my heart couldn't take it.
I took the step to NYCUP Summer, because unlike the Spring Break Plunge, I want to IMMERSE myself with the facts, the thoughts, and the drive to use my talents and make difference with God as my driving force. So many people have become inspirational to me, and I want to do that for my fellow leaders as well as the multitude of people that walk my campus everyday and who I see on a daily basis. I want to stop feeling angry at people, and start loving on them. It is hard to love those who abuse, but we have to realize they were abused too...
We are so sympathetic to the plight of others, because we are conditioned to take it and then swallow it and never think about it again. We have bursts of "freedom" and "liberty for all" and then our own troubles and concerns take us away from the task at hand and what God had envisioned this world to be. I truly believe that Earth was made for us and our fellow humankind was made to live in peace and harmony, however, we are so quick to ignore the vulnerability of ourselves and others, and therefore ignore that everyone, no matter who, needs love and support.
I want to stop being complacent and I do not beg, plead, or ask, but demand you look within yourself and pray for God to guide you. God can move mountains, and if we have a force that unfathomable...why do we not show Him? Why do we not let Him use us?
If you are willing to be a vessel and tool for him, please, help me and donate. Pray. Support. Just love on everyone and learn what you can do too.
For more information on Mont Lawn City Camp, please go to: http://montlawncamps.org/Mont_Lawn_Camp/Welcome.html
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