When I first started taking Jesus seriously, I felt like I belonged in the back row.
Everyone else seemed to have it all figured out. The big words and Bible verses apparently made sense to them, and it was all a jumble to me. I wasn’t sure how I would ever learn enough to belong.
Fortunately, a couple of wise guides helped me understand that knowing everything wasn’t a requirement. In fact, all that “knowledge” didn’t really have much to do with faith.
Faith, it turns out, includes uncertainty and doubt and questions. Jesus invites us on a journey, and he hopes we will bring the messiness, the questions, and the doubts, as we travel.
Let’s imagine together what it’s like to be a child rescued from sex trafficking. A child who has endured experiences and trauma more horrific than you and I can possibly imagine.
Someone tells this child about Jesus, who loves and forgives and holds them in his hands. Imagine the swirling mixture of mistrust, uncertainty, hope…
“Telling” will never be sufficient. Like those wise guides who walked alongside me, this child will need a community willing to demonstrate who this Jesus is. A community willing to love, accept, and forgive unconditionally a child who feels ashamed. A child who may act out their trauma. A child who may be difficult to love.
There’s no formula or curriculum for this process. It’s what the earliest followers of Jesus called THE WAY – doing life as Jesus did it. Traveling with one person, one rescued child, at a time.
It doesn’t scale effectively.
It’s why The FREEDOM TOUR chooses to partner with one Project Rescue Home of Hope and one group of 22 kids. Kids and caretakers we get to know over the years.
Imagine that child, after years of doubt and mistrust, finally opening their arms to Jesus.
I think, when that happens, heaven celebrates.