no words

My human vocabulary has no words to describe what I have seen and how I feel about it... I have no words to fully explain the damage that has been done to my heart...

There is a ministry based out of Kansas City called Exodus Cry.  This ministry exists for the sole purpose of exposing Human Trafficking and work towards its abolition.  The people who make up Exodus Cry have traveled around the world gathering over 800 hours of raw footage of the atrocities happening today in our world - abroad and at home.  The hundreds of hours of footage has been made into a 3 part documentary - the first of which came out on May 1st, entitled Nefarious: Merchant of Souls.   

My Pastor purchased a few copies and let me borrow it on Monday.  Monday evening I sat down at my computer for what I expected to be a very difficult and heart wrenching hour and a half.  I was in no way prepared for the horrors that were waiting for my eyes, my ears and my heart.  Like I said, I have no words to truly describe any of it.  

The one and a half hour documentary took me over two hours to watch due to times when I had to pause it because I was going to throw up or my weeping was too loud to hear over.  There were many quotes spoken and written throughout the film - the very last quote that scrolled across the screen as the film came to a close was this, "You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.” William Wilberforce  

There is no truer statement than that one after watching this film.  None.  I can NEVER again say, "I did not  know."  Because, now I know.  And now I am responsible for what I know.

It is never easy to come face to face with the realities of the world.  It is uncomfortable.  It is frustrating, even enraging.  Coming face to face with what is actually taking place in our world today leaves me with a pit in my stomach and a hole in my heart.  Jesus said that knowing the truth will set you free.  I believe with all of heart knowing the truth is also meant to be used to SET OTHERS FREE.

The truth of what is taking place in our world, even as I type this, is this: humans are being bought and sold.  This buying and selling of people is hugely profitable because as a trafficker would say 'You can sell a gram of crack or a gun once but you can sell a body countless times.' Human Trafficking is a 32 billion dollar per year industry. – The United Nations

I cannot get the images out of my mind.  I cannot get the words out of my head.  I cannot stop thinking about the truths that I now know.

The pants of a seven year old covered in blood from being sold and rapped by grown men.  Young girls being sold by their parents into the sex industry so they can have enough to eat - as the dads sit on their asses doing nothing instead of working to provide that food for his family.  Orphans who have aged out and are sent to the streets with nothing and the majority do not live another 2 years - because traffickers are waiting for them when the walk out the orphanage door.  Women who are lied to by our sex obsessed culture  that  prostitution is glamorous and a great way to become rich and independent.  A woman, man or child who is trapped in sex slavery may be sold 20 to 30 times a day.  A Day.

These are the truths of what is actually going on around the world, today.  Right now.  This is the daily reality for over 27 million people around the world.  And it is not just happening in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America... no it is also happening here in North America. The average age of entry into commercial sex slavery in the United States is 13 years old. – United States Department of Justice

I know the above is gruesome.  It is offensive.  It is horrible.  And I know that as you read what I have written the thought of watching for yourself is ridiculous - but please heed my plea.  Please watch this film.  I am begging you - watch it.  Why?

Watch Nefarious to know the truth.  Remember, knowing the truth will set you free. Watch it for them.  Watch it for the sake of every child who lives this every day.  Watch it for the women who live it every day.  Watch it because THEY MATTER!!!  These beautiful souls MATTER.  They deserve it. 

Nefarious Trailer:
http://vimeo.com/26792244

My heart is broken.  But my spirit is stirred.  My mind is reeling.  But my resolve is strong.  These precious souls matter.  They matter to me and they matter to God.  I will never be the same and my heart's cry is this, "Here I am Lord, send me!"

"You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”
-William Wilberforce