breaking chains.

This week, JMU's chapter of Intervarsity hosted an event called the "The Price of Life".  This event was to make our campus aware of human trafficking and sex trafficking or modern day slavery.  It was run and put together by the Justice Team of IV which is a ministry team seeking for the restoration of God's rule and are engaged in advocacy, study and prayer for the injustice in our world.

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, the Justice Team was on the Commons of JMU, selling t-shirts and taking donations to go to World Vision, a Christian relief, development, and advocacy organization, to help the fight against slavery.  The t-shirts were designed by the Justice Team and looked like this:

 

The culmination of the week was last night during Large Group.  The Justice Team had Jesse Eaves from World Vision come to speak to us.

The point of Jesse's talk to inform the audience what human and sex trafficking is and how real modern day slavery is in the world.

Here are the facts:

• There are 27 MILLION slaves in the world today.
• Slavery is the 2nd largest criminal industry making 3.2 BILLION dollars a year.
• The U.S. is not exempt from slavery: over 20,000 slaves are trafficked into the U.S. in a year.
• There are more slaves in the world today than in any other point in HISTORY.
• While most slaves are not physically bound by chains, their "chains" are fear.  They and their families are threatened to killed, beaten and more.
• Slaves can be used for labor, sex and even as child soldiers.

Slavery is a very real problem.  Trafficking is a process and it does not stop until a slave is freed or dead.  The saddest part is that most Christians lack an active concern for these poor, oppressed and exploited people.  Especially when the Bible have over 2,000 passages about justice.

During Jesse's talk, he referenced 1 Samuel 14.  In the passage, Israel's army was surrounded by the Philistine army and Saul wasn't doing anything about it.  He was hanging out with his 600 men under a pomegranate tree.  But his son, Jonathan, couldn't take it any longer.  He felt the need to act.  He decided to sneak out of camp saying, "Perhaps the Lord will help us, for nothing can hinder the Lord."  The crazy thing is that when Jonathan took action, the Lord gave him strength helping him defeat his enemies.

The question then is this: are we going to be like Saul, who was so overwhelmed by what lay in front of him that he decided to lounge with some pomegranate fruit or be like Jonathan who recognized the need for action and stood up and allowed the Lord to use him?

This situation feels so much bigger than us.  It feels impossible to overcome.  But nothing is impossible for the Lord.  He has called us to be advocates for the voices that can not be heard.  It says in Psalm 82,

How long will you hand down unjust decisions by favoring the wicked?  Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.  Rescue the poor and the helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people.

We can not turn a blind eye to this anymore.  We can help the chained in two ways: in prayer and in action.  There is already a bill headed to Congress called the Child Protection Compact Act.  We need your voice.  We need people calling their congressional leaders and telling them that this bill is important to them.  We need the U.S. to take more action in preventing the trafficking and exploitation of children.

If you'd like more information and are interested in getting involved check out World Vision and their World Vision Acts website.  Also if you are part of a college organization that wants to do more, check out Human Wrong and be part of the a powerful campaign.

Other organizations to check out are Not For Sale and Restore.

WE have been called to have a role in ending injustice in the world.  The Lord wants us to step up and help our brothers and sisters.   The time is now.