Intentional

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

This is for her who feels disconnected from the person she was only a few years ago. Back when she knew how to laugh her heart out at her own jokes. That time when she was in control of her feelings and the emotions that it evokes. All the way to that moment when predictable was a norm and taking risks was barely a thought. Back when comfortable is the end goal. She thought she can and therefore she will.

She was abducted from her far flung village. Worse, her own parents sold her for forty dollars to flesh hungry men. Her innocence was taken along with her lost soul. She was locked up in a dungeon, no more than hellish stench and hopelessly dark tunnel. A hidden rescue operation took her out of death’s claws. But the good-hearted men took her back to her parent’s abode. Little did they know she was sold for eighty dollars the day after. She was not recovered nor seen again as the good- hearted men’s rescue operation failed to take her back in the midst of a burning brothel the next day.

She was promised a great future back in a foreigner’s land. She was one of the many teenage girls who jumped and took off on a pick-up truck. Bracing to dear life as she holds on to a few clothes on her backpack. She daydreams of luxurious life, that is, a soft cushion bed and a taste of grapes, of different kinds. How she landed to a prisoner’s paradise that she didn’t know. She went to this new country with unknown identity. No passport to show. She is told to hide in the shadows. She is for male’s show.

Is there hope for her? I would like to think that there is hope for her. As long as there is breath in her lungs there is hope for her. She is not a provocative figure, not an object to play. Her worth is more than a thousand rubies, more precious than a gold-inlaid bowl.

How can we help her? We can start with our awareness of her presence behind the blocked curtains. She still exists and so are her perpetrators. She can’t make a noise for herself, let’s do it for her. Let us spread the word in our community that human trafficking exists. We can report it even with a slightest suspicion. We can always be wrong but what if we were right?

You and I are the hands and feet of Jesus in our community and in our circle of influence. Take action now. We can certainly make a difference.

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