Humans for sale
It was mid summer when I first passed it. I was lost in thoughts on my drive to work when the sign stopped me at the bottom of Straight Street. There that banner hung unashamed of its message in the boldness of the daylight, "Hey Johns we've got your number." The next week, to my surprise, it was still there and as I looked a bit closer I saw, "Humans not for sale."
Fall has settled in here.
The trees have turned their own glorious shades of crimson, and still the banner hangs. The message has changed a few times over the past months, but always the idea remains. This corner at the bottom of Straight Street is taking a stand for the used, abused, and neglected.
I think about all of the traffic that has passed through that way. I wonder how many of them noticed the outright tragedy of a city corner. I wonder how many were in some way a part of it. It touches the edges of my own STORY, and I feel a familiar aching as I swallow memories. Sometimes we must feel our own bit of pain before we can own the need to help another.
My well traveled sister, she tells me how tragedy happens on corners all over the world. And I'm a bit nauseous when I imagine the girls in Japan who haven't even experienced the curves of womanhood, but still their young faces are plastered on walls of brothels. This is not a life worth choosing, and we try not to think about how they have no choice but to say yes when they are chosen.
Christmas is coming.
We celebrate with gifts in remembrance of the One who was and still is the gift. Love came down in the humblest of ways to bring us hope.
I think about corners.
Soon the tree will be adorned with lights, and we will place those lovely packages beneath. It's glorious really; the idea that we are making merry because a child was born. And he was innocent in every way when he was taken to be shamed, abused, and murdered.
But he had a choice. He was a willing sacrifice. He poured out this offering, a gift for me and you and all of those girls who wait at corners. He said it himself, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
Jesus, the gift of life, full and whole.
I plan to wrap a few gifts in love this season. I will nestle them near the foot of the tree, the place where love was born and life was given. And I'll pray that these gifts give a choice to girls waiting at a corner for a bit of hope.
To learn more about how you can get involved, visit this link at World Vision.
Fall has settled in here.
The trees have turned their own glorious shades of crimson, and still the banner hangs. The message has changed a few times over the past months, but always the idea remains. This corner at the bottom of Straight Street is taking a stand for the used, abused, and neglected.
I think about all of the traffic that has passed through that way. I wonder how many of them noticed the outright tragedy of a city corner. I wonder how many were in some way a part of it. It touches the edges of my own STORY, and I feel a familiar aching as I swallow memories. Sometimes we must feel our own bit of pain before we can own the need to help another.
My well traveled sister, she tells me how tragedy happens on corners all over the world. And I'm a bit nauseous when I imagine the girls in Japan who haven't even experienced the curves of womanhood, but still their young faces are plastered on walls of brothels. This is not a life worth choosing, and we try not to think about how they have no choice but to say yes when they are chosen.
Christmas is coming.
We celebrate with gifts in remembrance of the One who was and still is the gift. Love came down in the humblest of ways to bring us hope.
I think about corners.
Soon the tree will be adorned with lights, and we will place those lovely packages beneath. It's glorious really; the idea that we are making merry because a child was born. And he was innocent in every way when he was taken to be shamed, abused, and murdered.
But he had a choice. He was a willing sacrifice. He poured out this offering, a gift for me and you and all of those girls who wait at corners. He said it himself, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
Jesus, the gift of life, full and whole.
I plan to wrap a few gifts in love this season. I will nestle them near the foot of the tree, the place where love was born and life was given. And I'll pray that these gifts give a choice to girls waiting at a corner for a bit of hope.
To learn more about how you can get involved, visit this link at World Vision.
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