Where Were You?

This blog is a bit different than probably most others that
I’ll write. Then again, maybe not – perhaps things I witness will tug at my
heartstrings more than something I actively experience.

Friday we had been eating lunch when Teresa called us,
asking if we could come back to help shuttle and watch 40 kids from V-Colony
(Victory House) that needed to go to the hospital to get shots. So we got there
around 2:30 and helped out until about 8.

On our 2^nd haul, I was sitting with Moses, who is
probably about 4, and waiting for everyone to get their shots. There were 3
guys outside staring at myself and Moses, and unfortunately we were near the
door. To make it creepier, there were open windows behind our chairs that
looked out into a sketchy back alleyway.

I kept my hand on Moses’ knee so I could tell if he moved
anywhere while trying to not stare back at the guys but still keep an eye on
them. Moses doesn’t really like to be touched; he doesn’t cry or anything, but
he kept moving my hand off of his knee.

The guys went along the alley behind me a couple of times,
making me more tense, but I watched them as best as I could. I was honestly
waiting for them to try to kidnap Moses or something along those lines.

Some might say I’m paranoid, but sadly I witnessed something
soon after that situation had calmed a bit that bothered me much more, and
re-heightened my cautious state.

2 men, probably in their mid to late 20’s, one wearing blue
and one wearing white, walked in with a girl who was maybe 8. Since I had been
watching the creepy guys, I’d taken to watching the door, and this trio
immediately caught my attention.

The girl was all dolled up in a really nice looking Punjabi:
A gold (the most expensive color cloth in India) overlay with intricate beading
and come red pants under it. She also had a lot of make-up on.

The man in the blue had her by the hand, completely bypassed
the sign-in desk and went right to a doctor’s room. From my seat I could watch
the man trying to get her into the room, but she was grabbing the doorframe and
trying to resist him. The guy in the white seemed to have no purpose during the
whole ordeal.

We were still there when the three left. The man in the blue
was being rough with her by pushing on her lower back and butt to make her
walk. I guess she wasn’t going fast enough because he picked her up and was
walking off with her. She leaned as far away from him as possible without
causing herself to be dropped.

Witnessing this event set my heart aflame with rage towards these
men while it was breaking for this child. I fear I just witnessed a child
forced into prostitution, possibly getting checked to see if she’s a virgin,
and I couldn’t do anything about it.

Along that line, I just finished a book called “Terrify No
More” by Gary A. Haugen which is about the work of International Justice
Mission. IJM is an organization that basically rescues those in modern-day
slavery. The main focus of the book is freeing child-sex slaves and the
undercover operations they conducted in Svay Pak, Cambodia. Some children IJM
saw in Svay Pak were as young as 5. It’s a wonderful book, in the sense that it
is a terrible subject but really opens your eyes.

A part of the book hit me hard:

Given all the power and resources
that GOD has placed in the hands of humankind, I have yet to see any injustice
of humankind that could not also be stopped by humankind. I find myself
sympathizing with a GOD who, speaking through the ancient prophet, told HIS
people, “You have wearied the LORD with your words…by saying…’Where is the GOD
of justice?’ ” (Malachi 2:17 NIV). Increasingly, I feel quite sure of the
whereabouts of GOD. My tradition tells of a FATHER in heaven who refused to
love an unjust world from a safe distance, but took HS dwelling among us to
endure the humility of false arrests, vicious torture, and execution. This is
the GOD who could be found as “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering”
(Isaiah 53:3 NIV). The more I have come to know HIM, the harder it has become
for me to ask such a GOD to explain where HE has been. In fact, surprisingly, I
don’t generally hear the victims of abuse doubting the presence of GOD either.
Much more often I hear them asking me, “Where have you been?” (Haugen p. 241).

Where have we been? Why do we want to see GOD do things but
are not willing to be used to make them happen?

It got me re-thinking about my Criminal Justice degree so
far, and brought a new route for me to think about. I have discovered quite a
few of my passions throughout my life: Prostitutes, children, missions and
justice. IJM combines all of these things. It’s terrible and dangerous, but it
makes a difference for those freed.

So, I have been given a few things to consider once I get
home, but for now I will be lifting up that girl I saw in the hospital and pray
that someone can make a difference where I couldn’t. And I ask all of you to do
the same, and be willing to be the vessel that GOD uses to get it done.

I would say “Sorry for being heavy,” but I will not
apologize for initiating a call to action and lessening the effect that call
could have on just one person. This is war. These are GOD’s children crying to
us for help; the girls that cry to HIM every night and beg for rescue from the
horrid things they have been forced to do at such a young age. How many more
unnecessary casualties will we allow? GOD doesn’t need us, but HE wants us. HE
wants to use us. So lets join in the fight. The time to do something is right
now. We have the ultimate COMMANDING OFFICER, and the victory is already won.
Don’t be afraid. Don’t lose hope. Never surrender.

“Let us not become weary in doing good.” (Galatians 6:9)

“Cowardice asks the question – is it safe?

 Expediency asks
the question – is it popular?

 But conscience
asks the question – is it right?

 And there comes
a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor
popular; but one must take it because it is right.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.