Numb

Recently I connected with a few girls in Greenville who are interested in making an effort towards fighting human trafficking/CSE in and around the upstate. Two girls, in particular, have started an organization called HTAC (Human Trafficking Awareness Coalition); the work that they plan to do is good, but in talking with them and considering how much exposure I have to the reality, statistics, and true stories of this issue, I realize how numb I have become to it. The accounts of girls duped into entering the commercial sex industry and the stories of their exploitation do not move me.

Perhaps my reaction (or lack thereof) is due to having heard these stories so many times. Or maybe it's just not what fires me up. I really hate when people say stuff like "Well, that's just not where my heart is." That's such a pathetic excuse. Just because something isn't particularly compelling for you doesn't mean you are exempt from caring. I think that type of rhetoric is all-to-common in modern Christian circles and is a way for people to feel that it's ok not to care or contribute. And because of that, I don't want to use that same lame excuse for myself. 

I am drawn to Latin America because I speak Spanish, but I do not want to ignore the rest of the world simply because I have a pension for Latin American current events. I do not care much about the environment (even though I recycle and wish that my car wasn't such a gas guzzler), but I don't think that means that I shouldn't care or shouldn't make a concerted effort towards being a better steward of the planet. 

Jesus has instructed us to plead for widows and care for orphans, but he doesn't qualify those commands by adding "if that's where your heart is." He just says to do it. Of course, I believe that having an "attraction" towards a certain issue or region is a gift from the Lord and part of His equipping us to serve Him and His people. But having a specific interest is not grounds for ignoring other places and subjects. And if something is important and dear to the Lord, shouldn't it be important to us as well?

To simplify all of this rambling, I will say that I guess I just don't want to be a hypocrite.

The Wanderer

Since Christmas I have been on-the-go. The majority of my weekends have been spent away from Greenville, and I have logged some serious miles on my car and in air travel. I catch flack from my Greenville friends about my frequent absences, and I understand their point; however, I really enjoy traveling and being a modern-day vagabond.

This past weekend I put about a thousand miles on my car: Greenville to Milledgeville, GA for my cousin's graduation; Milledgeville to Murrells Inlet for my nephew's baptism; and back to Greenville. On the way back from Murrells Inlet, I drove through parts of South Carolina that I had never seen before, and it was really cool. While driving through a giant pine forest, I passed a large clearing and realized that it was a giant federal prison. And soon after, I found myself driving alongside Shaw Air Force Base. Maybe all of the traveling I have done (not just in the past few months) has opened my eyes; or maybe it's that because my eyes have been opened that I so enjoy traveling. Whatever the case, freedom of movement is a gift and one that I value.

Our friends' dock in the Inlet

Murrells Inlet

The Inlet at night, with the crazy full moon

My "nephew"- big brother of the one baptized