Read at your own risk...
I’m sitting here in Cambodia in my air-conditioned room feeling totally sick to my stomach – not from the Cambodian food, but from the pain and atrocities that my eyes have witnessed these past few days. But I’m hoping that maybe if I spew out my emotions and thoughts on paper, I’ll be able to keep my actual lunch down.
I just returned from a visit to an old brothel in the city that International Justice Mission shut down a few months ago and the missionaries I’m with are renovating to become a ministry center and church for the community. Though it is about to become a place of hope, I was completely horrified as I walked down the halls. Hundreds of little girls (most ages 7-16) were sold by their parents to the owners of it and used as sex slaves - suffering more horror than my mind can comprehend. Confined in separate little prison cells just big enough for one small bed, they were only released to stand at the front door for “customers” (mostly Western men) to choose from. Once chosen, it was back to the prison cell to be raped, beaten, and tortured any other way the man desired. Most girls suffered abuse from about 10 men a night. The heat and smell in the rooms was unbearable for me (I was sure I was going to faint or throw-up), but this is what they lived in day-in and day-out. Some rooms had drawings on the walls of tears, crosses, and cries for help. And though my heart rejoices that this brothel has been shut down and these girls placed in rehabilitation homes, it breaks knowing that thousands more brothels just like this are still running in this country and millions more girls still live this horrific existence.
I sit here on my bed wondering why them and not me. What right do I have to be in this air-conditioned room while millions of less fortunate ones are suffering every type of torture imaginable right now? I don’t know. But I do know that it’s not ok and we as the church can not sit and turn a blind eye to it. I can sense God’s holy rage at the torture of His children and the evil monster that people have turned the gift of sex into. And I understand a little more his desire to vomit a lukewarm church out of his mouth in Revelation 3:15-16. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I feel the same urge right now. It makes me literally sick to think about remaining in my own comfortable little world, sitting idly by while others suffer like this. Jesus would not sit carelessly by, and we can’t either. For we are now His hands and feet on this planet- his vessels for setting the captives free, binding up the broken hearted, and fighting for justice.
This world needs more Don and Bridget Brewsters (the couple running this ministry). Just an average American couple in their 50’s, the Brewsters saw a Dateline special on child trafficking two years ago and let it move them to action. They took a scouting trip to Cambodia to visit the area of the brothels shown on T.V. and came home knowing they had to do something. Though the couple had never considered or seen themselves doing missions one day, they moved to Cambodia and started Agape – a ministry providing healing, rehabilitation, hope, and the love of Christ to girls rescued from this horrible industry. The restoration these girls are going through is truly miraculous! All because a couple of empty nesters decided to let their hearts be broken for something that deeply breaks God’s heart- and to follow Him into action. (You can read more about the ministry at www.aim4asia.org and watch the Dateline special at www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4038249/ - The brothel on the video is the one I went in.)
I sit here wondering what the world would look like if the entire Body of Christ were willing to respond to the deep needs of God’s people like this. Jesus declared His mission statement on earth in Luke 4 - “To preach the good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” and it’s still His mission today. Only today, we are the vessels He’s chosen to use to accomplish this mission. Will we respond?
Challenged, hurting, moved, and inspired,
Kierra
I just returned from a visit to an old brothel in the city that International Justice Mission shut down a few months ago and the missionaries I’m with are renovating to become a ministry center and church for the community. Though it is about to become a place of hope, I was completely horrified as I walked down the halls. Hundreds of little girls (most ages 7-16) were sold by their parents to the owners of it and used as sex slaves - suffering more horror than my mind can comprehend. Confined in separate little prison cells just big enough for one small bed, they were only released to stand at the front door for “customers” (mostly Western men) to choose from. Once chosen, it was back to the prison cell to be raped, beaten, and tortured any other way the man desired. Most girls suffered abuse from about 10 men a night. The heat and smell in the rooms was unbearable for me (I was sure I was going to faint or throw-up), but this is what they lived in day-in and day-out. Some rooms had drawings on the walls of tears, crosses, and cries for help. And though my heart rejoices that this brothel has been shut down and these girls placed in rehabilitation homes, it breaks knowing that thousands more brothels just like this are still running in this country and millions more girls still live this horrific existence.
I sit here on my bed wondering why them and not me. What right do I have to be in this air-conditioned room while millions of less fortunate ones are suffering every type of torture imaginable right now? I don’t know. But I do know that it’s not ok and we as the church can not sit and turn a blind eye to it. I can sense God’s holy rage at the torture of His children and the evil monster that people have turned the gift of sex into. And I understand a little more his desire to vomit a lukewarm church out of his mouth in Revelation 3:15-16. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I feel the same urge right now. It makes me literally sick to think about remaining in my own comfortable little world, sitting idly by while others suffer like this. Jesus would not sit carelessly by, and we can’t either. For we are now His hands and feet on this planet- his vessels for setting the captives free, binding up the broken hearted, and fighting for justice.
This world needs more Don and Bridget Brewsters (the couple running this ministry). Just an average American couple in their 50’s, the Brewsters saw a Dateline special on child trafficking two years ago and let it move them to action. They took a scouting trip to Cambodia to visit the area of the brothels shown on T.V. and came home knowing they had to do something. Though the couple had never considered or seen themselves doing missions one day, they moved to Cambodia and started Agape – a ministry providing healing, rehabilitation, hope, and the love of Christ to girls rescued from this horrible industry. The restoration these girls are going through is truly miraculous! All because a couple of empty nesters decided to let their hearts be broken for something that deeply breaks God’s heart- and to follow Him into action. (You can read more about the ministry at www.aim4asia.org and watch the Dateline special at www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4038249/ - The brothel on the video is the one I went in.)
I sit here wondering what the world would look like if the entire Body of Christ were willing to respond to the deep needs of God’s people like this. Jesus declared His mission statement on earth in Luke 4 - “To preach the good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” and it’s still His mission today. Only today, we are the vessels He’s chosen to use to accomplish this mission. Will we respond?
Challenged, hurting, moved, and inspired,
Kierra
posted by Kierra Higgins at 2:45 AM
1 Comments:
We MUST do something about these western men who travel there for sex with children. Disgusting!
Post a Comment
<< Home