Human Trafficking

Photo originally found on www.curatormagazine.com

I listened to a powerful message today called Human Trafficking by Benji Nolot. If you are interested AT ALL in human trafficking, I highly recommend it. It has completely changed the way I view social justice.

Did you know as of 2007, there were conservatively 27-30 million slaves on our planet? Some experts even estimate there being actually over 200 million slaves, most of who are not accounted for. Out of the slaves over 70% are sex slaves. The women might end up servicing 50 men a day, and suffer through countless abortions over the years. Tens of thousands of women are smuggled EVERY DAY to fuel this grossly profitable industry. When we think about sex trafficking, we often think of countries such as Cambodia and Bangkok. Although what is happening in those countries are no less than atrocious, the top three countries in which women are outsourced are Australia, Japan, and the United States. The United States!?!! Who knew that the land of the free would be importing over 100,000 sex slaves a year!

We think about social justice as being simply an earthly thing, yet it is so much more than that. Social Justice is a spiritual issue. Benji Nolot shared stories and testimonies that point to there being dark spiritual forces creating and perpetuating oppression of human lives. As evidenced in Daniel 10 in the Bible, there is a "prince" over different dominions that we are fighting against. If this is true - if the source of social injustice lies in the spiritual realm - this changes how we must live our lives.

Whenever we participate and give into lust, objectification, sexism, racism, etc., we are coming alongside the very same spirit that is fueling human trafficking, poverty, and other forms of social injustice. Thus, our purity and personal holiness matter! Furthermore, in the Bible we are told repeatedly that the government sits on Christ's shoulders (Isaiah 9). If this is true, OUR PRAYERS MATTER. We cannot simply fight social injustice on an earthly level, we MUST also appeal on a spiritual realm. The only way we can do that is through prayer, both individually and corporately.

I have often lamented the fact that my enrollment in school has kept me from uprooting myself abroad to stand in the front lines of fighting human trafficking. Now I realize I CAN stand in the front lines by getting on my knees everyday and appealing to the One who holds the government on His shoulders. And I can only pray that soon, I'll be able to use my skills and talents to take action and fight one of the biggest evils facing our planet today.

My 26th Birthday

So MUCH to update on. I suppose I'll start with my birthday. I decided in January to stay in Austin this year for my Spring Break due to the need to save up for Israel this summer (which as of now the projected cost of the trip is around $4000!!! Yikes!) Anyway, since I went to Vegas for the first time in February (pictures forthcoming), I decided to have a Vegas-themed birthday party on Saturday. It was a fun time. People dressed up, some in actual casino attire, some stuck to the Casino Royale theme.

There was dancing at the party (notice a stripper pole in the background) as well as a backyard fire pit for S'mores.

For my actual birthday, I treated myself to a shopping spree with some birthday money I received. I went in to work for a little bit, then drove up to Cedar Park for my small group. There, I got to celebrate my birthday again.
My cake was an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen's complete with a cookie crumb crust and chocolate sauce. My two favorite birthday cakes growing up was this cake as well as Sara Lee's pound cake with Cool Whip, neither of which I've had in a long time. Needless to say, this is the best birthday cake I've had in years.

So now I'm 26 years old. For some reason, I really did not want to turn 26. My mother got married when she was 25, and my grandmothers each had 3-4 kids by the time they hit 26, so I think being 26 and still unmarried makes me feel like I've missed some family legacy of some sort. Of course being a woman getting my PhD, as well as moving across the country to Austin by myself without knowing a soul could also qualify me as being in uncharted family territory.

I love new beginnings. I always say that New Years is my favorite holiday because I get to look forward to new beginnings, new plans, and a new chapter. But my birthday also marks a new beginning. And as I look forward to my 26th year and what I would like to see happen this year, I realize that I'm going to be coming up on some major milestones in life. Though I'm not going share all of them, I will share one.

Career wise, I'm going to propose my dissertation within the next 12 months (AND I'll be back on the job market in the following 12 months!). That is crazy to me, as the dissertation proposal marks the beginning of the end of my graduate school career. In addition, if I were to go into academia, my dissertation can also set the tone for my career. Granted I know that not everyone bases their career on their dissertation, but a lot of people do. My advisor, for instance, became famous for and has built his career around the theories he came up with in his dissertation. All in all, this is the year I'm going to making major decisions regarding my career.

My community group at church is challenging me to start praying boldly and with power, expecting miracles to happen and requests to actually be answered. I find that as I reflect on my life this past year and as I look forward to the future, my reflections fall under 3 major categories. Living situation, love life, and career. I'm going to start praying for these three areas boldly, seeking direction and answers. Needless to say, I think this will be a big year and I'm excited about what's to come!