Slow Change

Yesterday’s quote might have seemed a bit out of left field.

We’re not stuck in traffic – we are traffic.

Once we see a system, we can work to change it.

We tend to confuse control and agency. You and I don’t hold a magic wand with the ability to make things exactly as we would like them. That doesn’t mean we have no input at all.

The problem, of course, is that systems change slowly and changing them requires persistent, diligent work. It’s much easier, and less frustrating, to simply be cynical or to blame someone else. Or to seek short-term solutions that feel good but don’t really address the issue.

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Let’s blame criminals and corrupt politicians for human trafficking. Let’s recruit and equip a platoon of Rambo-types and turn them loose. Let’s build more jails.

All of that might make us feel a little better, but a half-century of “war on drugs” ought to convince us it won’t change much.

Or – let’s build relationships. Let’s open schools and vocational training centers. Let’s care for food insecurity and medical needs. And let’s do all that with no strings attached, in Jesus’ name. Because He said that’s how people would come to know Him.

The second way is the hard way. The slow way. There’ll be resistance. There always is, because there’s a lot of money and power invested in the status quo.

But the second way is the way of Jesus, and after watching Project Rescue operate for the past 13 years, I’m convinced it’s the only way.

Whether we like it or not, you and I ARE part of the system that allows human trafficking.

Let’s keep working together to change it.