Preparing for Front Range FREEDOM Tour is a little like trying to watch a sunrise. There’s a sense of impending opportunity, but the experience can be so intense you’re tempted to look away.
I think the intensity I’m feeling flows from a heightened awareness of the issue behind the tour.
A year ago I could honestly say I didn’t know much about human trafficking and modern-day slavery. I sort-of knew it existed, but I really didn’t understand the depth and breadth of the problem.
Now I know. Once you’re aware of something like that you can choose to turn away and pretend it’s not there, but you can’t un-know.
A friend spent the weekend working at Sarah’s Home, a long-term safe home for underage girls who have been rescued from the forced commercial sex trade. Sarah’s Home offers healing, education, restoration and reintegration for trafficking survivors.
The thing I keep trying to wrap my mind around is that Sarah’s Home isn’t in some distant third-world country or even a tough inner city slum wracked by drugs and crime. It’s located in the shadow of the pristine Colorado Rocky Mountains.
Sarah’s Home is part of my neck of the woods. Right here in my relatively safe community, girls are bought and sold as commodities. It’s a grimy underside of every community, including yours.
Some of these girls are kidnapped and sold into sex slavery. Others fled from abusive or dysfunctional home life and met a “boyfriend” who promised to take care of them but sold them instead. Many girls are coerced into prostitution by a friend, boyfriend, or parent. In the United States, within 48 hours of running away from home, 1 out of 3 children are approached by a trafficker or pimp. Even after strict laws against prostitution, these crimes still happen at a great number. For example, colorado prostitution laws state solicitation and prostitution as Class 3 misdemeanors, and multiple convictions for the same can be Class 6 felony and lead to further increase in the punishment.
This isn’t about one home or one program. It’s about organized criminal abuse that’s happening in our backyards. It’s about a question I asked a few days ago: What if Jesus was serious about everything He said?
I keep thinking He had these girls in mind when He said, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (Matthew 25:35-36)
I get the sense that He wants us to do something beyond shaking our heads. I think He wants engagement and action when He says (verse 40), “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Our team of eleven riders will do something next week. We’ll engage together in an experience of shared sacrifice. We’ll form relationships and talk about slavery and human trafficking, and about hope and possibility. We’ll be followed, supported, and encouraged by a huge circle of love that’ll carry us down the road.
It’s cool to know Jesus will travel with us on this journey of hope. It’s a lot more than a bike ride. We’ll take care of the details-I’m glad He’s in charge of the stuff that matters.
I invite you to join us. Follow along, share our posts and pictures and tweets. If this issue touches your heart, visit the U COUNT website, learn more, and find a way to engage.
I’m excited for the opportunities this tour offers. When you take a risk to use your gifts and passions to serve others and change the world, things tend to get a little intense.
I think that’s how it’s supposed to be. I don’t want to turn away.
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