So, I am trying to process a lot that I learned...bear with me and don't get too bored reading this...
Alright, so when I Was in Africa we had this teaching on social injustice that literally rocked my world. I have never been so heartbroken in all my life...hearing about the millions of people who live each day in fear and subjection to things we can not even being to comprehend. I wept and asked God how he could let this happen. It tore me in so many pieces to think that these people are living in complete poverty, becoming soldiers for a war they did not start, being chained to beds all day long and forced to have sex with 30-40 people a day because there family could not afford food, working in factories and risk their lives because of poor conditions, growing up with no parents and having to learn how to fend for themselves...and much more. I am still in the place of extreme anger and utter confusion against this injustice, but it is incredible how God is using these feelings to teach me things I have never thought about before.
First off, I had an incredible vision while on the field in Africa. I had a vision of a globe and it was divided into groups of people. There were people who are child soldiers, girls sold into sex slavery, people with HIV/AIDS and other groups that suffered from the various social injustices. I then looked at the USA (not to say there is nothing wrong in the US, but I think it was for the purpose of the vision) and in it there was a huge group of shadowy people who didn't appear to have anything wrong with them. I asked God, "Who are those people?" and he answered, "the unaffected." I said, "Well what is their purpose? What are they supposed to represent?" I immediately saw the mass of the "unaffected" being scattered into all the places where the others, let's call them the "affected" were. They enveloped the people and all the figures turned the same color, the color of the "unaffected." This vision was incredible because A) it was a vision from God and that in itself is rad, but B) because it speaks the truth about injustice. There was a ton more of the "unaffected" and once they decided to do something against the problems in the world...the world was enveloped and changed. I really think that God was trying to show me that the "unaffected" in the world, those who have a voice, those who have the resources, those who have the call placed upon their lives to be God's people for God's glory and at upon his words are going to do the affecting. They are going to GO to the places where the "affected" live and suffer and bring God's healing and power.
Now the idea of "GOing" isn't that new to me, it's something that has become a given in my life...I will GO, GO here, GO there...no big deal. We talk about it at church and sing about it in our worship songs..but I realized the true weight of that phrase. I am called not only to GO but to GO BE. GO BE the light to the darkness in Thailand where 7 out of 10 tourists are there for sex tourism/trafficking. GO BE the person to hold the HIV/AIDS orphan who has never felt the love of a family. GO BE. This probably means doing something really uncomfortable like sitting in a bar with 200 girls who are selling themselves to put food on the table and tell them they are loved by someone who created them as a daughter of God, uh...awkward. This could also mean praying for hundreds of AIDS patients piled up in African hospitals who have given up hope that they will be healed. You try convincing them someone loves them and is capable of healing them...not easy. This GOing is actively and tangibly doing something to fight the injustice that plagues our world and consumes the people in it. It is becoming uncomfortable for the sake of revealing God's power to the world who has lost hope.
This concept became so real to me, but I also felt a HUGE burden to spread this around to others. To Vanguard. To my kids at Rock Harbor. To my friends. We all have something that we get enraged about. Whether it is sex trafficking, child soldiers, child labor, poverty, HIV/AIDS...we need to start GOing and acting on this. It's not enough to just sit here and talk about change, it takes the "unaffected" to do the affecting, to go to the places where no one goes and make the difference.
I just think sometimes of that vision, the mass of the "unaffected" people literally consuming the "affected" and wiping out social injustice, which seems like an impossible task. In my next blog...I will share what I learned about the word impossible. The fact that even though we claim to believe nothing is impossible for God, we don't live like we believe that...heavy stuff, but glad to be learning...and sharing with you.
Night.
LF
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