Last blog.

Once again, I find myself on the eve of yet another great adventure while leaving another behind.  I’m thinking about rickshaw rides and lonely walks.  People I’ve met and people I have watched.  I’m thinking about how I can’t even comprehend the last three months.  No.  I simply cannot.  It’s going to take some time.  We’ve been to ten different cities and met with, if my count is correct, twelve different organizations and various people making a difference in India.  I have a full notepad and a completed journal.  My brain juice is spilling over the lip of my cranium cup with a plethora of tasty new knowledge.

Part of me even wonders if I truly have retained this knowledge yet, or not.  My brain uses experience to allow concepts, ideas and new train of thought to really seep in and become applicable.  Perhaps when I am back in a familiar place with familiar people my brain will allow me to understand the monster that we have been researching.

Our last meeting was in Mumbai.  We swung back around there as our flight out was at the Mumbai Airport.  We met with IJM (International Justice Mission) for most of the day; it was no small meeting.  We conversed with one personality from nearly every department that makes up the body of IJM Mumbai.  These people don’t mess around.  In 2000, when IJM first came to India, minors were readily available for sex and they were sold in public for one hundred and fifty rupees; three bucks.  Twelve years ago these pimps didn’t have anything to fear and that is never a positive thing.  It’s a different story now that IJM has been working closely with the local Justice System providing whatever support they can with teams of Investigators, lawyers, administrators and counselors.  Kids are no longer sold on the streets now that IJM and the Justice Department have been cracking down on sex trafficking in Mumbai.  Arrests are being made, investigations are being brought to court, perpetrators are receiving sentences and victims…justice.  IJM is an intricate part of the multidimensional solution to the multidimensional problem. Between the four of us we will have much to discuss, from our last meeting and all the meetings prior, with TI when we return stateside.

If I have learned anything from studying scripture and living life coupled together it is that patience and waiting on G-d is always the key to any door you wish to open.  As David says with simple and yet complex wisdom: wait on the L-rd. 

As for this day I am tugging away on my tobacco pipe and enjoying real coffee in a park within the beautiful and romantic city of Paris.  I have realized over the past few years that adventure is not only an important part of men’s lives in order to test their moral stamina and character.  It is not only the thrill of mystery and the unknown that man desperately needs from adventure but also the iniquity uprooting ability in which G-d uses during adventure to purify his sons.  I look back on what feels like a decade of learning and I chuckle to myself as I remember I am only twenty years old.  With each adventure G-d has been purifying my heart and healing the pains of my past in order to create a being who functions as someone who can not only receive Agape, but can also give it.  With each grand adventure I have set off on, G-d stripped me of just one more iniquity which would be hindering me still, now, if I hadn’t been brave enough to say no to boredom and yes to a fulfilling life.  This adventure has been no different in the reoccurring aspect of G-d’s gentle reproof during adventure.   I thank G-d for seeing me as teachable as I sometimes fail to believe that I am still capable of dieing to live.

I won’t tell you to not be afraid of what is good because it’s a nonsensical statement.  Perhaps somebody who isn’t human could obey such a tall command.  I will tell you though, to not give into to fear when it comes on the cusp of something good; it will.  Rather, embrace it.  For it is far more masculine to head straight towards the heart of your fear and understand it, than to pretend you have no fear at all.  When G-d presents you with opportunity for adventure take it.  When He asks you to change do it and push through the fear.  Live adventurously and say yes to G-d.      

 

Just another blog by Scott…

It would have been enough.

Do you have goals?  Do you ever find yourself so ambitious that you end up losing yourself in a goal and forgetting where you came from?  I do.  Now I don’t count myself as a wicked person for falling into this type of lifestyle and neither should you (1^st John 3:19:21).  With this thought in mind, don’t say, “I can wait to change tomorrow or I’ll get better soon enough.”

It’s been about three or four days now since I told Evan that I was going to get us a new bottle of shampoo.  We share shampoo.  Is that weird?

I keep telling myself, “I’ll get it after lunch.” Nope.  That never happened.  “Yea, I am definitely going to get that shampoo right after I play some guitar.  It will only be for like ten minutes.”  I still don’t have any shampoo.  But, I swear to you, I am going to get that shampoo tomorrow.  By the way, our shampoo has only been dwindling.  It’s not as if Ev and I have gone without for four days and have slowly become hair nests for birds.

I know you guys can relate similarly to this example.  If I put off buying shampoo that is available literally five minutes up the street how much do you think I put off studying the torah or the epistles or the gospels and so on.  I especially do this when I have my own goals in mind.  But G-d has reminded me this week, as he often does, to slow down and return to my heart.  Sometimes I am so stubborn G-d has to physically stop me.  I think in the last two weeks I have had food poisoning, colds, achy joints and just general dehydration because who drinks water anyways.  During all these times I remember saying, “Ok G-d.  Let me out of your vice grip and I’ll read a proverb or something.”  Nah, that didn’t really cut it.  So I ended up falling asleep in a ball of pain last night pitifully whispering to G-d under my bed sheets, “Alright.  I will just change.  Thank you for caring.”

That change began today when I read the first epistle of John and some of the Pirkei Avos (Ethics of the Fathers).  Pirkei Avos is essentially the moral and practical teachings and exhortations of about sixty Jewish sages whose lives embraced nearly five centuries.  So you can imagine, these guys have a few good things to say; and when I say a few I mean I could spend my whole life trying to put to practice one phrase…there are forty two pages in my Siddur (my Jewish prayer book I wrote about in the last blog).

Here is what I discovered:

“One who stays awake at night or who travels alone on the road, but turns his heart to idleness — indeed he bears guilt for his soul.” –Rabbi Chanina ben Chachinai

As I read this, I thought, “Hey that’s me,” and then I swore.  I continued to read through the Ethics of the Fathers and found wise sayings that seemed to jump out of the page at me and say, “Scott, why don’t you include conversation about torah as you eat with someone,” or, “Scott, the scriptures are so life giving.  You know that.  Why have you been away for so long?”  Stammering, I began to make my case as to why I had forsaken the scriptures…submission came shortly after. It can be hard to submit my flesh to what is good.

In Psalms 1:2, King David writes:

“But his delight is in the law of the l-rd; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.”

Not only should I be going about my day thinking of the scriptures but I should also end my night with them.  It just feels right and it’s what G-d made us for.  If you don’t believe me, try it out.  I have been spending my nights up late watching shows or movies and done nothing to connect with G-d during the day. This kind of behavior has lead to me neglecting my heart; my heart has been idle.  I have also walked down the road alone without a companion meaning, I haven’t talked to anybody about what I am learning.  Those two things go hand in hand and are similar to how cows chew cud.  They chew, spit, chew, spit, chew and digest.  I haven’t been chewing or spitting. In other words, I haven’t been chewing on the word and I haven’t been talking about it.  This resulted in an idle heart; a neglected heart.  Thus, I haven’t been learning anything other than how to go about life in a masochistic manner.

I like the fact that Peter and John’s epistles are right next to each other because you get to glean wisdom from the mind of a Prophet followed by a Mercy.  I’ll start with Peter:

“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity…but he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” -2 Peter 1:5-7, 9

 

In order to accomplish charity which is G-d’s love, or agape, we have to begin with these steps.  Notice that the first step is not to go evangelize and save the world when you’re a brand new Christian.  That is step number six.  Unfortunately, not much time is spent on one self as Y-shua once did and taught.  He spent thirty years adding character to his faith; aligning character with scripture;  reconciling the seemingly contradictory sides of scripture; learning patience as he wrestles scripture; becoming patient as G-d is patient. After all of this He had four years of ministry which taught him to love others with G-d like character; and finally showing us G-d’s love on the cross.  Imagine that, our Messiah took thirty years to work on step one through five and then hit step six and seven hard.  How much more than, if the messiah took thirty years, should we work on these steps one through five before we can truly love our brothers and share G-d’s love.  Now I’m not saying don’t go out and love people as Y-shua teaches so often.  I’m just saying that some of the greatest men I know deal well with the little they are given, like a family. So ask yourself, are you capable of loving yourself and your family?  If the answer is no, then you’re not ready for full fledged brotherly kindness yet.

I haven’t been able to do any of those things lately because I have been pursuing what I thought was more important than knowledge.  I haven’t even gotten past step number two.

Now it’s time for John:

“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the bretheren.  He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”-1 John 3:14

This hit me hard today as I realized without studying scripture I hadn’t loved myself or anybody else.  My heart had become idle similar to a small engine stuck in neutral.  It beat away like a zombie abiding in death, as the verse goes, groaning at the thought of any human interaction.  Thankfully G-d gave me the opportunity to change that.

In the Passover Seder meal, which Y-shua observed with his disciples as the torah instructs, there is a script called the Haggadah, which is used as a sort of springboard to initiate conversation about Pesach (the Jewish festival which revolves around the remembering of the Exodus from Egypt).  Within this script there is a section where one person reads off a list of degrees of goodness that G-d had done for the Israelites.  For example:  Taking the Israelites out of Egypt, the splitting of the sea, etc.  It goes something like this:  (Lead) If He had split the sea but had not passed the Israelites through it on dry land…The group responds with: It would have been enough.

The purpose of this exercise is to remind ourselves to be thankful and content for what G-d has done. To be thankful, even for the seemingly bitter things which G-d has allowed to carve off the coal from the many faces of our silver souls.  For my own life I imagine it to look something like this:  It would have been enough if G-d had shown me that I was far from him and did not give me the scriptures I read today.  It would have been enough if G-d had given me the Himalayas and not good food.  It would have been enough if G-d had given me good food and not the natural hot springs to bath in at the top of the road.  It would have been enough…but G-d constantly gives me more than enough.

G-d wants to be my first desire when I wake up in the morning.  He wants the intimacy of our relationship to be the first goal I achieve before pursuing other endeavors.  Ultimately the first goal of each day is to begin at step one…adding virtue to my faith found within the scriptures…and that is enough.

It would have been enough.

 

 P.S I’m working on my final India blog.  Give me a few days.

Moshe & Human Trafficking

“And looking up to heaven, he sighed…

It is all a venue. It is a venue to learn. G-d will teach me wherever I go so long as I ask in faith believing that He will. And it is far more important than any task that I am doing or place where I am living at any point in my lifetime.

“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the L-rd endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

-1 Peter 1:24-25

Does that make any one else home sick?

Once again I find myself discovering that this adventure is more about G-d and me, father and son, king and servant, rather than the emphasis being put on the research of Human Trafficking. Now, let me say that I am not disregarding the task at hand, one of which I truly thrive in. Human Trafficking is dark. It is darker than my words can express. When I think of the young girls and women I have met that have suffered physical, sexual, verbal, and spiritual abuse my soul aches because my mouth has nothing to say…I wish to turn on the light and uncover the darkness.

But the struggle in the wilderness with the Israelites was not for the Israelites. If you can remember G-d allowed the Israelites from the age of twenty and up to be killed by the Amalekites and the Canaanites (Numbers 14:28-45). And if you have ever read the torah you’ll know that this is just one example of a portion of the Israelites dieing. So if you have ever successfully taught a dead person, e-mail me. I will then proceed to re-write this blog. G-d used the wilderness to teach Moshe how to speak with Him.

I have realized how important it is to verbalize your thoughts to G-d. Do you ever pray out loud? There is a difference in the effect that prayer has on me when I pray out loud and when I merely have a scatterbrained prayer within my mind. You know those prayers where one minute you are really communing with G-d and then a cheeseburger pops into your brain or your daily tasks swarm your thoughts? Well G-d, just thought I should share my love of cheeseburgers with you…that reminds me, its my day to scrub the toilette…ok G-d, talk to you later. This happens to me when I don’t pray out loud. But, when I do I often sigh. Tension and stress leave my shoulders like a leaf drifts down from a tree branch in the fall season. Sometimes, it feels more like a brick falling off my back into an icy pond of tears. It is reverent, well thought out, dramatic, real and intimate.

“And Moshe said unto the L-rd, wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? And wherefore have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swearest unto their fathers…I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.”

-Numbers 11:11-15

KILL ME, Moshe says! It is too heavy! Kill me L-rd. Say that in your mind. Now, read out loud and imagine the pain. Imagine the brick, no, the brick wall on top of Moshe’s shoulders. Can you feel the difference? He is at the end of his rope. He is crying out LOUD like a baby screams for a father or mother and his father does hear him crying:

“And the L-rd said unto Moshe, gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.”

-Numbers 11:16-17

“And I will come down and talk with thee there…” It’s ok Moshe. I am coming to your rescue. I am coming to save you my son. I know it’s too heavy and that’s why I am going to help you. Here’s a bunch of old guys. They are pretty smart and they have sweet beards. Oh boy, I am getting excited aren’t I?

So, we can see that Moshe talks to G-d and G-d talks to him. They don’t speak telepathically. In Hebrews 13:16 the author writes “But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices G-d is well pleased.” Now I don’t claim to do this well. I often choose to watch T.V shows at night rather than talk with my Father about the events of my day, or sleep in instead of rising up early and speaking first to my King before any body else. I also often forget to pause during my day and tell G-d thank you, or I need you. I often busy myself until I am so overwhelmed that I am forced to go to the Father to help me clean up the wreckage of my day. So I have found the following to be my new way of praying. I am really coming back to prayer because I have been missing out as of late. You may find it strict and seemingly heartless based on the mind only. Don’t allow the scars of past experiences keep your ears from hearing. Whether that is your parents or the church you grew up in. This has changed me and I see it far far deeper than heartless ritual. I see intentional communication routinely throughout my day because normally I am just too dense to realize how much I need to speak with my Father. Unless I follow a routine my flesh gets the best of my spirit.

I own a Siddur thanks to my generous friend Jonathan Hughes. This is a Jewish book of instructions, laws, customs, and additional prayers for the weekdays, Sabbath and festivals. This book contains precise instruction on how to approach your heavenly King each time you pray, which is normally three times a day. There are two physical positions to pray in, from what I can glean of this text: sitting and standing. One example of sitting would be the prayer said upon arising.

“I gratefully thank you, O living and eternal King, for you have returned my soul within me with compassion – abundant is Your faithfulness!”

(As we wake up, we feel deeply grateful to G-d for having restored our faculties. Before getting out of bed or beginning any conversation or activity, we immediately declare our gratitude and firmly resolve to serve our Creator—instructions for prayer).

-Siddur Wasserman Edition; pg 3

Secondly, there is standing. I am much more interested in this posture of prayer. The Shemoneh Esrei-Amidah (which is literally translated to eighteen because it originally consisted of eighteen blessings) is the conclusion of the morning prayers. In this prayer you are given instructions on certain movement that should happen as you pray. You walk three steps as if walking into the throne room of your King. As you speak to your Holy King you bend your knees, bow and straighten up.

I love this form of speaking to G-d. It is humbling. I follow a strict format of prayer so that my words are chosen carefully as a servant would as he humbly bowed before his king to make a request.

Let me pause and say I have not rid my day to day life of simple prayers. This style of prayer enhances my life. I still like to sit down to breakfast with all my study material splayed about me and just say, “Thank you G-d.” I can remember numerous times at my job when I would just be physically and mentally exhausted with half a day left. I was done but my work was not. Approaching a heavy bag of rank and wet grass, because I work landscaping maintenance, I ask G-d to give me the strength to lift the bag from the garbage can and chuck it into the back of a trailer. I am even reminded of Sampson’s prayer in Judges 16 as he asks G-d for strength one last time. It is a short meaningful prayer. No bending and no bowing.

I spoke with somebody weeks ago on the subject of dreams. You know; life long aspirations and deep desires. They are things every body has. Every body can say on the fly, Hey I want to be a librarian or I want to be the president of Guam. Every body has a dream. Personally, I want to create the world’s biggest starburst ball and live inside of it…not really. But this person, who shall not be named, told me, “I am not sure if I have any dreams.” What a strange thing to say. A few weeks later we arrived at the same conversation. Except this time he told me that he had discovered his dream: to commune with G-d. Think about it. It is not fleeting. It is good and true. It is Moshe’s story: And the L-rd spake unto Moshe face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend (Exodus: 33:11).

…and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, be opened.”

-Mark 7: 34

Part two: Research

So here I am on the train again heading to the next town. This time it’s Kerala to Bangoloru. It has been raining the last few days which was pure relief from the heat down here at the tip of India. I stood between the cars for a while and stuck my hand out to let the rain soak my palm…G-d’s weather just stops me. Two days ago we spoke with a man named Simeon who is a local pastor in Kerala. He oversees the care of around thirty widows and orphans. A great portion of what I gathered from our meeting was based on the Caste System. It is relatable to slavery in the U.S.

Now maybe some of you have a grandpa or grandmother still hanging around from a time when racism was prevalent in the states. Or maybe they’re from the dirty dirty south where, although I have never been, I have heard you can still see black and white tension. Well, let us say you decide to get married and you have a mixed race marriage. Your racist grandpa and/or grandmother are not really going to like that very much. But hey, you don’t care it’s a free country and that’s what America is all about…Freedom; and everybody knows it.

It’s a bit different in India because there are still many uneducated tribes people. For example some Indians in Northern India still believe that women are not allowed to cover their breasts. Remember that this is tribal and it doesn’t take place in somewhere like New Delhi…that would be a lot of topless women. So the lack of education only contributes to oppression by the caste system. This is a brief overview of the Hindu caste system which I nabbed from the internet:

The Hindu caste system reflects Indian occupational and socially defined hierarchies. Ancient Sanskrit sources divide society into four major categories:

Priests-Brahmin
Warriors-Kshatriya
Traders/Artisans-Vaishya
Farmers-Shudra

They omit the tribal people and those outside the caste system formerly known as untouchables or “dalits.” That would be the topless women I was talking about.
This was good information to know and we really haven’t asked too many people about the caste system yet so it was worth traveling to the tip of India to discover. As for the rest of our trip I want to invite you to go to my team member’s blogs. Nate’s is particularly specific this week in his summary of our research from the beginning of our travels here.

Nate:

Devarimtovim.tumblr.com

Ev:

Furrowedground.tumblr.com

Faith:

Fhepner.blogspot.com

-Scott

My Great India Adventure

The wicked flee when no man pursueth…

I am sick….oh so sick.  I have taken more pills and drank more cups of tea than I care to count.  Motorcycles, rickshaws, cars, tuk tuks, bicycles, vespas, and small girls on little tricycles are all funneling into a small street in my brain that is my sinuses. I am so lost here: lost in my mind, lost as soon as I leave the alley of the guesthouse, lost when I get on the metro.  I do not know the Hindi language nor do I know the culture.  I do not understand the food or the reason as to why everybody thinks I am a girl here.  Well that is a lie.  I know the length of my hair can be misleading, but it’s not enough to make me cut it.

Within the Indian culture men and women can be separate.  The lines to receive a frisk before entering the metro area are divided by gender.  More than a few times I have been directed to the female line where the pretty military woman was patting down the Indian women. So even though it was tempting to get patted down by the pretty military woman and maybe strike up a conversation with her while she ran her useless metal detecting wand over me for about four and a half seconds missing my knife completely, I answer with a smooth and deep baritone…I’m a man not a woman.  You may be thinking, “Wow Scott, you are so suave.”  This is the correct train of thought.

Now sitting on the rooftop of a busy café I can breathe.  A young Indian couple sits to the right of me trying to converse without nervousness and the waiters run around quickly to attend to their needy customers.  It is somewhat quiet if I tone out the consistent honking from the main street below.  I can only try to comprehend the last week and a half.  So much has happened it feels like I can not pick a single thing to write about so I just continue to write about nothing.

I have had two separate conversations with Nate and Evan in the last few days about why it is so important to be able to pin point your insecurities exactly.  Evan gave me a unique perspective that I will utilize for the rest of my life.  “Insecurities are meant to be called by another name,” Evan said, “We should be calling them battles.”  I think the reason for this is that G-d does not see us as impure or unworthy beings, but he sees us as something so much more…holy and blameless; as Paul would exhort.  Our souls are holy.  It is the oppressor, the accuser, satan.  He is the one who would have us believe that it is what is wrong with us rather than what is right with us.

It is fascinating how often I would believe, in the midst of conversation with any person who works preventatively within the sex trade that I am saying the wrong thing or I appear poorly in some way.  This spirals out of control into thoughts of passivity, fear, doubt, lust, and so on.  I must be a part of something so good.  I must be considered pure and holy by my Heavenly Father to feel this sort of attack.  I must be good.  I must be brave.  I must be courageous and strong and loved.  I do not have any insecurities; just battles.

G-d is making a man out of me here in India.  He is hardening me, boiling me like an egg.  It seems that way in all the adventures of my life.  These adventures have been constant since my graduation of high school.  But he is teaching me to be meek, to be gentle and yet to be bold as a lion.  I am researching a dark secret that many people know about, but few intervene to prevent.  It requires a new kind of strength that I must rise to.  In order to do this I follow suit of my team here who I consider to be valiant in their daily lives.

“He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.”

1 Samuel 2:7-9

About a week later…

I figured I’d combine these two blogs since it has been a while since I spoke with you all.  The following is an entry from my journal:

The sun is setting and I am alone under the veranda of a busy coffee shop.  Yes, I am alone.  The streets are beautiful in Mumbai and the trees stretch their branches out far over the pavement.  Strong branches are decorated with slim leaves. Some are broad and shade the street, protecting the people from the beating sun.

I am already much more attracted to Mumbai rather than Delhi.  There is a peace about this place that is carried over from somewhere far out in the salty Sea.  The breeze brings it inland and feeds my soul like the sun does for a small flower growing in the crevice of a mountain in some grand lively wilderness.  It’s also much cleaner!  But, I must take into consideration that we are living an hour north of the inner city.  I am not really sure what this place is called.

I discovered some excavated caves in a park today.  They were at the top of the hill where I could see the city skyline so clearly…beautiful, just pretty. Traffic is so much less noticeable here and crossing the street does not cause my chest to yearn to rip away from my body and run back to my room in fear of heart attack like it did in Delhi.  We all met with an organization immediately upon arrival in Mumbai called Justice and Care.  They were some of the most kind and servant hearted people I have met on this trip so far.  A man named John (this is not his real name but because I am paranoid for the sake of others I’ll just be changing people’s names) was the meat and potatoes, so to speak, of the organization.  He seemed to use passion like a rudder to steer his office inside and outside the ship.  He most definitely is a dreamer; or visionary, rather.  The difference being that he has created steps toward his dreams and taken them.  He points all his work towards the L-rd.  At the end of each explanation of one of our questions he stated, ‘This is why we must pray,” or, “It’s only by G-d’s grace that this can happen.”

John regaled us with his stories of the Indian-Bangladesh border.  He went there to research why human traffickers were able to transport women and children over it, illegally, with such ease.  He discovered that is often easier to smuggle a human being, in captivity, over a border than it is to smuggle drugs.  This shocks me.  One of the reasons why this happens so easily is that the border patrol is paid off by the traffickers and they also take part in raping the smuggled victims as they cross the border.  In summary, they benefit from the crime.  The pastors and chiefs of the bordering communities do not involve themselves on account of they are already experiencing conflict and oppression from the government and persecution from the police.  Who is on the side of the victims?  Who!?

I went to an aftercare home to meet with a small portion of the victims of this horrific crime.  They are truly gems to behold and immensely inspired me.  These much too young girls have, in some cases, been deceived by their own families and communities.  A common formula found in the success of trafficking is deception done by a trusted family member or a seemingly respected person of the community who can claim to have great ties in the big city when, in all actuality, they work in/for brothels.  The means that they commonly use are desirable treats which are drugged, manipulation of emotions (i.e. sometimes utilizing the state of poverty affecting a girl’s family against her), and/or a promise of a good paying job within the city (90% of trafficked victims come from inland; 10% from the city).  John also said that the people of the bordering communities warn that if anybody was to make waves the border patrol will shoot them and create a story to cover the crime.  They can make it appear as if any people brave enough to stand up to the injustice were illegally trying to cross the border and were, therefore, shot.

On the team of 49 employees at Justice and Care there are lawyers, social workers, administrators, agents, and investigators.  While nearly twenty one people were out on a raid in Bangladesh, we did have the privilege of speaking with a young and intelligent investigator.  Jean (once again a fictional name to protect the investigator’s identity) is more than happy to have the job he does.  He is young and full of zeal as he investigates different lodges, brothels and converses with big wig traffickers.  He puts on different acts and disguises his appearance which is tailored to the personalities and situations. So, his job is just totally rad.  Jean gave us an example of a conversation he had with one trafficker at a lodge that tested him to find out whether he worked for some kind of N.G.O, non-profit or undercover agency of some kind:

The trafficker, a woman, offered Jean a girl.  Jean, being one of the good guys, had to find some creative way around this.  So, on the fly he made up a story about how his urinary tract is infected and it hurts to, uh…well…it hurts his… “continuous elongated anatomical structure or region,” ( New Oxford American Dictionary). Genius and hilarious!  What guy who is used to using these women and young girls regularly wouldn’t contract some kind of disease?

Thirdly, we spoke with a lawyer who was formal and full of spunk.  She dressed up well but I could see that whisky made her want to get into bar fights from time to time.  Probably not, but it sure sounds cool.  She described new laws that had been put into place because of Justice and Care’s diligent work; a tedious and patient processing of the law.  She spoke of how important it is to separate work from life.  So, at five thirty each workday she tosses her brain out the auto-rickshaw on the way home and treats herself to good fun.  Wow, what wise and healthy living.  She seems as if she could spend her life sitting in a tree with some kind of lawyer book (can you tell I don’t have a clue about legal things?) and gain great knowledge.  Instead, she is on the front lines putting her heart and mind to the test.

Processing the trip so far, I can see the desperate need for preventative work.  Start at the roots of the thistles and thorns. Rather than pulling up the weed by the head and waiting for it to grow back, rid the garden of blemish by cultivating fertile ground.  At-risk villages must be educated and made aware.  Men must be established as fierce protectors in the community.  This is the root at which the traffickers commence their corruption.  We must meet the traffickers at the beginning of their crime and not once the process is complete.  A few righteous men and women are needed…men and women of strength, character, integrity and those who eschew evil.

…but the righteous are bold as a lion.

 

Proverbs 28:1

My Great India Adventure

I have now been in India for 10 days and it feels as if I have been here for a month.  Time goes so slow when you get to do exactly what you desire.  Daily I receive a surplus of information and I think, in part, this is what is to blame for my exhaustion.  My eyes are like curtains begging to be closed yet, my roommates Evan, Nate, and Faith would argue that I have slept for the past seventy two hours.  Alas, I am tired.  Despite my weariness I will continue to explore the dirty and narrow alley ways of New Delhi.  I think wandering is precious to mine and G-d’s relationship.

For the past six days we all have traveled through beautiful Jaipur, Agra, and back to Delhi.  It has been a journey of knowledge.  During that time we visited palaces, burial grounds, leper colonies, and so much more.  I have discovered in talking with Nate, who never lets me leave a conversation without learning something good, tourism is a mind set rather than an act of doing something.  And I confess that I am a stranger and a pilgrim on this earth at all times, so perhaps I am somewhat of a tourist of this world waiting for that heavenly country anyways.  With that thought in mind I was able to allow myself some comfort on our trip rather than wish I was a desert vigilante riding camels and scooping up abused children as I rode over the dunes of Rajasthan. Ultimately I would have been missing what G-d was trying to teach me and give me.

And He truly did teach me.  I was reading the story of Moshe (Moses) and Pharaoh this last Saturday and the beginnings of the seven plagues which were brought down onto Egypt.  I have always remembered that G-d hardened Pharaoh’s heart but I realized that it was doing something good for Moshe although initially it seems opposite:

“And they met Moshe and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh:  And they said unto them, the L-rd look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hands to slay us.  And Moshe returned unto the L-rd, and said, L-rd, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people?  Why is it that thou hast sent me?  For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.”

-Exodus 5:20-23

By hardening Pharaoh’s heart G-d was causing adversity to occur within the Egyptians, the Israelites, and Moshe.  He was causing the Israelites to cry out in their broken and burdened souls and ask G-d to save them; to experience chastisement as a good Father chastens his own son.  And rather than allowing their own iniquities to be purged they blamed Moshe, causing him prolonged adversity.  He had no choice but to come close to G-d and ask for help.  G-d wanted Moshe to look within and discover that this adversity was there to teach Moshe something about his relationship with G-d; that G-d loved him and cared enough for him to cause him to have hardship and discover that peaceable fruit waited for him so long as he patiently endured a grievous task.  I think G-d wants us to take a step back whenever we experience adversity and to consider our life.  Ask the question, what does G-d want me to examine in my own character?

“For whom the L-rd loveth He chasteneth; and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.  If ye endure chastening, G-d dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he that the father chasteneth not?  For they verily after a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness…Now no chastening for the present seemeth to joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

-Hebrews 12:6-7, 10-11

I know I will experience adversity and a battle within myself during this entire trip because I already have.  It certainly won’t be an easy trip, but that is what makes it so exciting.  I hope that G-d gives me enough strength to persevere and to yield peaceable fruit.

As for this week we are all gaining on our first meeting with an organization called Courage Homes based here in New Delhi.  I am looking forward to sitting down with somebody and listening to their story concerning their strife in the fight against the slavery of children.  I want to know just what it takes to be a beacon of light in the country of India unearthing bitter roots that have been growing for so long as G-d directs the group and me. I know that it will be a joy to sit and learn from Courage Homes and take that information with me.  While I write for myself first and foremost, I also hope that you have enjoyed this blog and continue to follow it and freely contact me with any questions or just check in and say hey!

 

-Scott