Human Trafficking Crisis

If you have been watching the news at all, surely you've heard about this crisis in Nigeria.  One man and his small army has kidnapped nearly 300 girls as they were going to school, and has made a public video saying he is going to sell them as slaves, which probably means in the sex trade.

My question is this: why is this a bag deal?

Don't get me wrong.  This is a big freaking deal.  But why did it take nearly 300 girls kidnapped before it mattered?  Shouldn't ONE girl be unacceptable?  Should this be a big freaking deal everyday? 

And believe me, this is an every single day issue.  It happens all over the world.  It happens right here in the United States.  According to Unicef, it has been reported in all 50 states.  Many of them are foster children.

Human trafficking can be forced labor (like migrant workers).  Most often it is the sex trade.  It happens like this: a fifteen year old girl goes to a typical high school party.  After being roofied and raped, she is photographed and blackmailed.  One girl's story, she told that she refused to go back, then her little dog disappeared.  She got a call where she could hear the dog barking in the background, until she heard a gunshot.  Then the caller said, "Your little brother's next."  She went to a hotel room where twenty men took turns, and left her bleeding and broken in the hotel shower.  When the maid came to clean, she called 911.  They took her home, where her parents chastised her for running away from home. 

This girl was picked up again the next night, and taken from Virginia to California, where she lived as a prostitute, locked in a fleabag motel, where she was raped daily until a police raid, when she was finally returned home.

I wept as I listened to her tell this story.  What if this was your mom?  You sister?  Your daughter?  Your niece?  Your friend?

The question isn't why the case in Nigeria is a big deal.  The question is why aren't the rest of them?

If you would like to help, I have recommended and will continue to recommend International Justice Mission.  www.twitter.com/IJM, or www.ijm.org. 

Fort Hood, again

Fort Hood got shot up again.  PTSD is apparently to blame.  While I sympathize with mental illness and my heart goes out to the victims and families, I'm sick of the responses.

A man that was fired from CNN for being too liberal, if you can imagine such a thing, made an asinine statement.  I'm so disgusted with him, that I won't even use his name, because he doesn't deserve the publicity.  He said "'If only there'd been a good guy with a gun...' - such crap. This #FortHood soldier/shooter WAS a good guy. Until he turned bad, with a gun."

Are you kidding me?  This idiot thinks that he was a good soldier, but someone having a Smith & Weston made him evil? 

If all guns are evil, then by your own words, this man must have been evil before since he used guns as a soldier.  And Cops are evil too.  And the Secret Service.  And your private security.

You self-inflated toilet bug!  How DARE you attack the people that help us every day because they make us safe.

You want a solution?  Here's an idea, to make our military safer, have them do what every other military in the world does.  If they are in uniform and on base, they are armed.  A side arm minimum.  The truth is guns deter crime.  Kentucky is one of the states with the least crime, and the most free gun laws.  The areas with high crime in the US have the strictest gun laws.  That is a FACT.  They claim their crime comes from other places that sell guns, but most of the guns used in those crimes were illegally purchased, like from some guy's trunk.

The so-called nuclear deterrent works.  Bad guys should be afraid of good guys, not the other way around.  Gun laws don't work because criminals, be definition, don't obey the law. 

But that's the difference between logic and "liberal" idealism.  Logic examines facts and makes a decision, in this case that more freedom is a good thing.  Liberals hate freedom these days.  And they would never let a little thing like the facts stop them.

12 years ago, 10:05 AM, the bell rang to let me out of Algerbra 2. I was met by a friend, who informed me that terrorists had hijacked airplanes and were ramming them into buildings. I arrogantly informed him "No one would be dumb enough to attack the United States" (Oh how foolish of me) I walked into US History, and saw one smoking tower on the TV, and heard Peter Jennings say that the other had collapsed minutes before, and that a third plane had hit the pentagon. When the bell rang to start US History class, the teacher stated simply, "This is history." And we watched the TV in silence for the rest of class.

Equality?

Our nation took another step away from freedom in the name of tolerance.  The Supreme Court said that states had no ability to define marriage.  Gay marriage is now ok.

Here's the problem.  The Federal Government doesn't issue marriage liscences.  Marriage is 100% a state issue.  I know.  I've performed weddings in four states. 

This is just one more case of the liberals in Washington stripping away our rights, especially the first amendment.  This isn't equality.  In truth, in everything that is right, the government should recognize "civil unions" for hetero or homo.  Marriage should be left where it started, in the church, ordained by God.

Where is God?

This week has been active.  Boston Marathon bombing.  West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion.  Tornadoes.  Ricen poison in the mail.  Dr. Gosnell infanticide trial.  The questions comes if God is real, how do these things happen?

There are a few things to be said about this, but the bottom line comes down to choice.  When God created everything, he gave Adam and Eve choice, by planting a "tree of knowledge" in the garden.  He warned them that when they ate of it, death and evil would enter the world.  It's the true story of Pandora's box.  They rebelled against God, and there were consequences for their actions.  Death was unleashed.  Evil abounded.  The perfection of creation was marred (which is why tornadoes and out of control fires are a problem).

Since then, God continued to give people choice.  Adam and Eve's son Cain used choice to murder his older brother, just as Dr. Gosnell murdered 40+ infants and madmen created bombs and poison.  We were given choice, and some choose to abuse this precious gift to destroy another gift, life.  Others bully.  Or lie.  Or rape.  Or steal from the poor.  Or any other number of bad things happen because people make bad choices.

So why did God allow choice?  A girl at my church has a Winnie the Pooh doll.  She loves that doll and carries it around.  But does the doll love her?  Of course not.  Why not?  Because it can't.  It has no choice.  God gave us choice because he didn't want dolls.  He wanted us to choose to love.  I choose love. 

I choose to be with the soldier named Tyler who comforted the hysterical woman.  I choose to be with the soldiers, officers, and civilians that ran toward the explosion to try to help people.  I choose to be with the fire-fighters who tried to help in West, Texas.  I choose to be with the tornado victims.  I choose to love.

How about you?

Newtown Tragedy

How do you reconcile the innocents of Christmas with the horrifice nature of a madman walking into an elementary school and shooting children?  You can't.  A friend of mine put it well when seeking solutions.

"Bear with me. I'm trying to process a few things and have been sharing to help with that as well as hear others opinions. That being said I have a few thoughts on the Sandy Hook School Shooting. 1) controlling guns is not going to solve this issue. He was a crazed man who would have found a way regardless of laws. Yes we can make things harder for criminals, but if they want to do harm they are going to find a way.


"2) there are no right or wrong answers about how we can prevent this in the future. We simply have no answers as to why and only the killers have those answers. We can do our best to figure it out and hope it's enough to make a difference, but unless we start taking blinders off of our eyes and see that there are some people in this world that really are evil we can't change.

"3)we need to take an honest look at mental health in this country. We need to stop labeling those who do not need labels and HELPING those that need help. Parents need to stop pretending that children can never do wrong and see that they can. We need to learn the warning signs for potentially dangerous people and get them help. And we need to give law officials a chance to do the same.

"4) parents need to teach their children violence is NEVER a solution to their anger or fear. We need to teach them that anger and fear are healthy but that we need to address it appropriately and calmly."

She's right.  They didn't need guns in Oklahoma City.  They used common fertilizer.  People are shifting blame to guns.  To schools.  To video games.  (For the record, I won't play games like Call of Duty for this reason.  It's one thing to shoot aliens or zombies.  It's something else to go for realism that my friends have lived through.  There is something wrong about fantasizing about real deaths and tragedy.) 

The bottom line is evil just exists in the world sometimes.  Like 9-11, OK City, Aurora, and Newtown.  People like Osama bin Laden, Timothy McVay, Joseph Stalin, and Adolph Hitler.  Part of me thinks we will never truly understand these people.  At least I won't.  You can't legislate morality.  This boy didn't have a legal issue or a self-esteem issue.  He was not right in the head, and for some reason, did an act of great evil. 

The hope for this world isn't the law.  It isn't a political party.  It isn't video games, or lack thereof.  The only cure for evil is Jesus. 

Then again, that's what Christmas is really about, isn't it?

Maybe Preppers Aren't So Crazy...

So I mentioned before that NatGeo's show Doomsday Preppers entertains me, because they find crazy people who make ridiculous preparations for the Zombie Apocalypse (metaphorically speaking), like a family of hippies that like in an old missile silo.  Or the lady that so fears Asian Bird flu, she filters her own water and makes her family take detox showers before they enter the house.

These people are nuts.  Hilariously so.  But just like anything else, they find the extremes for entertainment value.  But not all who call themselves "preppers" are nuts.  FEMA and the CDC both have advisements for what people should have. (I would avoid looking at the CDCs.  They're a little nuts too.)

I live in an area that was hit by Hurricane Sandy.  I had a little leak in the roof, but not bad.  Others lost power, but all in all our area was largely unscathed.  New York and New Jersey... FEMA is having trouble getting people food, water, and gas, just like they did in Katrina.  So maybe it's not so nuts to have a few extra gallons of water.  Maybe it's not so crazy to have a few gas cans sitting around.  Maybe it's not too insane to have some packets of Romin that only require boiling water and sat good forever. 

Sandy's don't happen every day.  I get that, so preparing for that is an "everyone once in a while" thing just like everyone else.  But snowstorms are common enough, so saving up for a generator isn't the worst option in the world.  Just think about it.

One more thing, if part of your prepping is ammo or a gas mask, you've crossed the line to nutty, just for the record.

My 9-11 story

Eleven years ago, the bell rang at 10:05 to let me out of Algebra 2. There to greet me was a friend of mine. He told me terrorists had hijacked a bunch of planes, and had already rammed two into the World Trade Center. I told him, "Somebody is messing with you. No one is dumb enough to attack the United States of America." I walked into US History next, as saw one smoking tower on TV (the other had fallen). When the bell rang to start History Class, Mr. Eckart got up in front of the class and said "This is History." We spent the rest of class in silence listening to Peter Jennings.

Never forget.

On the Subject of Gun Control

Hours after the Colorado "Movie Massacre," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on the radio that he believe that every police officer in the country should go on strike, and refuse to come back to work until there were stricter gun control laws. 

It was not for days AFTER that until investigators discovered that the shooter had purchased the guns legally by spreading purchases across several stores.  He had no prior arrest record, so even with gun control laws, they would not have caught him.

Since this, gun control laws have been debated.  That said, I wanted to explain in a calm, rational matter, what this actually is.

First, let's look at what the Second Amendment actually states.  A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.  What this means is that our founding fathers gave us a unique right, unique to all the world.  They understood that it was only through the ability to defend oneself, it was necessary to have firearms.  In particular, they believed that we the people needed guns to keep the government in check.  So all those who believe that the National Guard remove the need for the second amendment do not understand history.  (Point of fact, in WWII, the Japanese said that they did not invade the American mainland because all they knew about America was from Westerns and Gangster movies.  They would not attack, believing there would be "a gun behind every bush and tree.")

Second, let's look at what happens when this is taken away.  In Atlanta, GA, they passed a law making guns illegal within city limits.  Gun-related crimes, like armed robbery quadrupled.  Why?  Criminals, by definition, ignore the law.  So if they saw no cops in a dinner, they could rob it safely.  When this law was repealed due to these affects, restaurant and store owners put signs in their windows saying things like "10% off if you are carrying a gun."  Crime reached new lows.  When Katrina hit, they declared martial law and went into wealthy neighborhoods and rounded up all the guns from the homeowners.  Looters came unchecked and destroyed these homes because officials were too busy with search and rescue to defend these neighborhoods.  These are true stories.  Look them up.

Fear and emotion tend to overrule logic and fact in our time.  The fact is, places with stricter gun control laws have more gun crimes.  I know it seems counter intuitive, but it's true.  I'll give you another.  Automatic weapons are not more deadly that other firearms (in fact, they're less so.  In Vietnam, those with automatic weapons averaged firing almost 50 shots per kill.  Snipers, using bolt-action rifles averaged 1.3 bullets per kill).  They're just scarier.  In the same way, switch-blades are not deadlier than other knives.  They're just scarier, so they're illegal.

The fact is, what if someone else in that theater had a gun?  They could have put a bullet in the shooter's eye after he started firing.  What if you had no wounded and just the maniac dead?  The person that killed him would be called a hero.  Period.  I read someone saying "He had on body armor, so a regular person shooting him wouldn't have mattered unless they had armor-piercing rounds."  Have you never watched a cop show?  A bullet in a vest is survivable, but mean broken ribs, maybe even a punctured lung.  That takes the fight out of him real fast.  That means an apprehended, live, bad guy.  Even better.

Now I'm not say everyone should have a gun.  I don't have one.  But what I am saying is that we should have ordinary people who are trained to use them.  I learned gun safety in school.  Rule #1: Always treat a gun like it's loaded, even when it's not.  Because it might have a chambered round and you not realize it.  Rule #2: NEVER point a gun at ANYTHING you don't intend to destroy.  Period.  (Again, even if it's not loaded.)  I learned to respect the power of weapons of all types.  So there's no mystery.  There's no curiosity leading to stupidity.  There is only knowledge leading to wisdom.

So what if any of those four military personnel who were wounded had been carrying a gun?  They might have saved a lot of lives.

Maybe what we need is less fearful reaction and more education.

Where is God in Tragedy?

When it comes to what happened in Colorado last Friday, there are many questions. Why did he do it? Is he insane or just evil? Did anyone see the warning signs? But in the end, I think that there is only one question that matters: Where was God?
Some believe that God predestines everything. They say crazy things like “Everything happens for a reason.” Bull crap. The Bible never says that. Anywhere. Look it up. And a belief in that will drive you insane, because then you have to believe in a god that is as cruel and evil as the pagan gods of old that tortured people for their own entertainment.
Some believe that God must be apathetic. He just doesn’t give a crap. The Bible says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Jesus Christ Matthew 10:29-31 NIV) God loves you so much, he counts the hairs on your head.
Some believe that God must be powerless. A Rabbi watched his son die of cancer, and concluded that God must care, but must be powerless. When Job questioned why God allowed tragedy, God “answered Job out of the storm.” (Job 38:1 NIV) God proceeds to explain His power showing creation. Look at the running horse; who gave it it’s power? Who laid the foundations of the earth, and set it on it’s axis and course? Who directs thunder and lightning? Who provides for the birds of the air and beasts of the field? Who made the dinosaurs, sea creatures, and hunters? Read Job 38-41 sometime. Watch the power of a thunderstorm, or stare into the expanse of the ocean. I’ve done it. Job did it, and answered “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2 NIV)
So if God is good, caring, and powerful, why didn’t he do something last Friday?
God gave us this amazing gift called Free Will. He gave us choice. And people misuse that choice.
This maniac who snuck guns into a theater and shot 60 people misused his choice. So did the 9-11 hijackers. So did Hitler, Stalin, and Hussein. So does the drunk driver that killed your neighbor. So did the assistant coach that molested little boys. So do a lot of people. So do you and I, every time we lie or say something mean.
So why did God allow it? “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 NIV) God wasn’t just wanting to help the victims. He wanted to get the shooter to change his mind. God gave him a choice.
So where was God? God was with Mr. and Mrs. Lucas Smith, when Lucas was shot in the leg twice, and his wife helped him to the car, getting him in surgery quickly. God was with three of the dead, who sacrificed their lives to save others. God was with the father who lost a six-year old, whispering to him “I know how you feel. They killed my only Son.” God was with the pastor who comforted the grieving, something he was experienced with thanks to ministering to the families of the Columbine victims. God was with all those who were praying to Him, because we were so shocked we had nowhere to turn but to Him.

I guess that only leave one more thing to say. We can be angry. We can hate. Or we can be God’s hands and feet. We can comfort the mourning. We can hug our families. We can help those who were mentally ill. We can do something nice for an elderly neighbor.

We have a choice too.

NGC Doomsday Preppers

National Geographic Channel has a show that I'm quickly becoming addicted to: Doomsday Preppers. For the most part, I can't help but think "You're nuts. You're going a little bit too far."

On the other hand, the other side of me says "You know, we really are dependant on Wal Mart." I'm not building a bunker or stockpiling ammo, but I did grab and extra thing of Romin so that if the power were to go out, I could still eat. Other than that, a lot of my camping stuff doubles as short-term preps, like say a snow storm that knocks out the power. That kind of stuff happens all the time, so some camping gear and some non-perishable food items could be good things to have on hand.

In the mean time, I'm going to watch a lady make her son do a detox shower in their year in winter because she's terrified of Asian bird flu. Rediculous, but addictive to watch.

I will praise You in the storm...

I grew up in the area where the tornadoes struck on Friday. My mother had to wait for the one that later struck Henryville (an EF4) to pass by. I know Henryville well. There is a garden there with some of the biggest variety of plants I have ever seen. There is a little truck stop right off the interstate. It does not look like much, but it's a little hole-in-the-wall that all the construction workers go to for lunch (they know all the best secret places to eat). It was well worth going out of your way to drive there because they had the best pie.

Among the death and devastation, there are amazing stories. I have some friends that just a few days prior found out that their first child is a little girl. Now their home is destroyed, but they weren't home. They went to a friend's house because they had a basement.

The high school let the kids out early to attempt to race the storms home. That was a good call, as the high school was destroyed. One bus driver saw the tornado and turned back, offloading herself and the remaining eleven kids into the office, which was the safest place to be. Another three buses saw it coming and pulled into a hardware store. The store manager said they counted 81 people they housed through the storm. The store is the only building untouched in a large radius.

There was a man who threw himself over his wife. She survived because of his sacrifice. A mom threw herself over her two kids. They survived. She lost a leg but is stable. So many stories.

If you've never seen the damage of a tornado first-hand, it is really hard to imagine. The pictures seem fake if you've never seen it in person. I know it sounds cliche, but you just can't understand the power of a sudden gust of wind. It is unreal otherwise. I've seen it as tornadoes are all too common in that part of Indiana.

There is a worship song that says "I will praise you in the storm." There are miraculous stories of survival, people making it when there is no earthly reason they should have. But most of all, we can praise God for his church. One of the largest congregations in the world, Southeast Christian Church, is located close to Henryville. In fact, they have a church camp which was untouched. They are gathering the homeless and giving them a place to stay, a central point to get help: from clothes and a hot meal to minor medical attention for scraps and bruises, allowing the hospitals to deal with the overwhelming number of serious injuries. Other local congregations are teaming up together to help provide those hot meals and other things. The church (not a church, the church) is an amazing powerful thing. When earthquakes struck Haiti, it was the church leading efforts to help people while politicians had to deal with agreements and embargoes. The church was in New Orleans days before FIMA. The church was in Japan and Indonesia for the tsunami relief. And the church has ever been there for the earthquakes that hit our country regularly. Even the Salvation Army and Red Cross have roots as Christian organizations helping people. There is nothing greater than the church being what the church should be. So we praise God for this amazing gift of the church and for allowing us to be a part of it.

"2011 sucks"

That is a quote from a friend of mine. This came when I called him with yet another prayer request. My notebook of requests has a longer list then usual. The particular request comes with a story.

My mother works at the same elementary school that my sister and I attended. One of the teachers there is a lovely lady, whose oldest daughter was a classmate of mine. They both came to the visitation when Dad passed. Dad had always kidded with everyone. This lady was a second grade teacher when I was a student there. Dad always told the kids that she was his second grade teacher too, even though she was younger than he was (kids aren't good at guessing ages, and always believed him). He even told my entire class that while accompanying me on a 2nd grade field trip.

Anyway, her husband Danny passed away suddenly from streptocaucal pneumonia, which is strep that turns to pneumonia (and no, I have no idea if that is spelled correctly). In a little country elementary school, she is the third lady to lose her husband since Christmas, all of whom I knew to one degree or another. One, named Ken (aka "Little Ope" to people who went to NHHS), died of cancer, Dad of heart, and Danny of strep. This was followed shortly by one of mom's best friends (who also works at this school) learning her mother had cirosis of the liver even though she has one drink of champagne at a New Years' party each year, and that's the only alchohol. Then the music teacher's mom died suddenly over the weekend. "What is going on here?" my mom asked in frustration.

Add into that my friend, that I was telling this to, whose car started having alternator problems, serpentine belt snapped, and started leaking coolant. His hours were cut back at work, his pregnant wife lost her job, and has been unable to find another. After all, no one is going to hire a very pregnant woman.

These may seem relatively small, but are fairly damaging to the people involved. Japan however, is large relative to... pretty much anything you want to compare it to.

Matthew 24:4-8
4 Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
NIV

As Kyle Idleman pointed out, there is a funny thing about birth pains. As it gets closer to time, they get more frequent and more intense.

Jesus said no one knows the day and the hour when he would return, so don't even try to figure it out. But, we know that the time is getting closer, so be ready. Have you fully committed yourself to Jesus? Have you shared the gospel with those around you who haven't accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord? Who do you want with you in heaven? What have you done to get them there?

Japan

There are many things that I could and should write about. I should probably write an entry a week to catch up (man March is flying by). I'll start with the most urgent.

Friday I awoke to turn on the news, to watch about a 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan. This was the strongest to ever hit the nation made of smaller islands, and tied for the fourth strongest quake ever recorded. Let me give you some perspective on how strong this was.

1. Japan moved 8 feet, up to 13 feet on the island closest to the epicenter.
2. It was felt in China, and recorded affecting things as far as St. Louis, MO, USA.
3. It adjusted the axis of the earth a few feet, according to some experts.
4. It actually sped the rotation of the earth.
5. There have been hundreds of after shocks, with more than 100 registering as a 5.0 or stronger.

This quake also unleashed a 33 foot Tsunami, with tens of thousands dead as of today, with possible hundreds of thousands missing. Millions are homeless. What shelters there are stand well beyond capacity, with no food, water, electricity, clothes, or medicine available to survivors. The wave also struck California, wiping three onlookers out to sea. Two were recovered alive.

However, there is a measure of hope. Japan has less than 1% Christians. It is one of the hardest missions fields to reach. At this time, missionaries on the ground, as well as organizations like International Disaster Emergency Services (IDES) and World Vision and many more are stepping in, providing help to a proud, stubborn, traditional people who need help for the first time maybe ever in their culture.

Governments are only able to help so much, due to red tape, pride, and the general waste that accompanies anything the government sticks their hands in. The government is helping with the nuke reactors that were damaged and seem to be exploding one at a time, but these missions organizations are uniquely primed, uniquely trained, and uniquely skilled at assessing and delivering aide to those who need it most. All the governments in all the world cannot do as much as the Church of Jesus Christ. Besides, no government has the blessing of God as the church, and no government can have the lasting impact of everlasting life that comes only through Jesus Christ. So please, give to one of these organizations.