Justice Like a River

Did you know that...

...there are 27 million people in slavery right now - that is more people in slavery today than during the entire trans-atlantic slave trade
...human trafficking is an industry that brings in over 32 billion dollars each year
...925 million people will go to sleep hungry tonight
...nearly 2 million children are sold in the commercial sex industry

Injustice fills the world with darkness and pain...and when we overlook those who are suffering, what a grave injustice that is.

Reality
BJ and I have spent the last 2 years living with my parents so that we can finish school.  We have shared a car for 4 years.  We have significant school and medical debt.  We rarely go out to dinner or go see movies.  We can't take a vacation and it seems like every time we start to get ahead, we have a new expense to deal with.  And yet, we have more than most of the rest of the world.  As I type this, BJ is giving Ian a bath.  The water is clean and warm.  In a little bit, I will sing to Ian and place him in his crib, which is safe, soft and in a private room with AC, a fan and a night light.  BJ and I will put away the large array of clothes strewn across our room and then sit down to read.  Later tonight, we will go to the refrigerator to fill up our glasses with clean, safe ice water.  We'll finish the night by crawling into our queen size bed...nestled comfortably under clean sheets and a warm comforter.  Our stomachs will be full.  The AC will be running and we will have two fans blowing on the bed to keep us comfortable.  We'll close our eyes and sleep peacefully, locked up in our safe home...without any reason to fear danger coming in the night.

My mind now wanders to the mother who will not have that experience tonight.  She watched her babies cry from hunger and listened to her littles one cough, knowing should couldn't do anything about it.  Her children are thirsty because the water they have access to isn't safe to drink.  She prays for them and lays on a floor with them pulled under her arm, because she knows there are violent people who could come and take them under the cover of night.  Maybe she is a mother who is crying tonight because tomorrow she will have to watch her children continue to live in slavery, or her daughters were sold into prostitution and she will never see them again.  There is no government funded school loan for her and her children.  There isn't a lock to keep out dangerous men.  She cannot ring the pediatrician-on-call when her baby gets sick in the middle of the night. And when she finds herself the victim of abuse, the police won't come to help her.  I think of her, and the millions like her, and I feel sick in the core of my body.

By the standards of many of our peers, BJ and I live on very "little".  But in reality, we live in incredible abundance.  We are the 1%.  So much of the rest of the world is suffering, and yet it is so easy for us to feel burdened because we have to deal with debt from the college education we received - something much of the world will never have the opportunity to attain.

When I was coming to the end of my third trimester with Ian, I had set up the nursery just like the picture in my head.  My parents had graciously given up the second guest bedroom to be used for a nursery and we had painted it, filled it with beautiful furniture and stocked the closet with sweet baby boy clothes.  One afternoon, we came home to find that my dad's German Shepherd had gotten into the room and unleashed an explosive bathroom experience on the carpet.  The smell wouldn't leave (eventually the carpet had to be replaced).  I was devastated.  I remember sitting in the hallway at church and relaying the story to a friend, expecting her to rub my back with sympathy.  Instead, she gave me a half-smile and said, "just remember that there are a lot of mothers in Africa who would love to have nursery that smells like dog poop."  Her words felt like a punch in the stomach.  And they were so true.

We have more than most of the rest of the world and we have a responsibility to be good stewards of that gift...using it to care for those who understand what real need is...and to defend those who are victims of injustice and have no other advocate to plead their case.

Like A River
There is an incredible campaign going on at our church right now and I want to invite you to be a part of it.  You may go to a different church, or you may not attend church at all.  My invitation is for everyone, regardless of affiliation.  You can do this in four ways:

(click on the words in bold to be taken to a site or video for more information)

1.  Sponsor a child through Compassion International
2.  Gather up your spare change and participate in Anything for Change
3.  Go A Week Without and donate the difference
4.  Come to the Freedom Concert and Freedom Marketplace next Sunday night (6/24)

If you want to participate in #2 or #3 but are unable to come to any of the services next Sunday, please let me know.

Justice is at the center of God's heart.  My prayer is that it would be at the center of our hearts and that we would all participate in seeing justice roll like a river throughout a broken and hurting world.

"But let justice roll on like a river; righteousness like a never-failing stream!"

Amos 5:24

"And what does the LORD require of you? To  act justly and to love mercy and walk humbly with your God:

Micah 6:8