How many slaves do you own?

I have about 33 slaves around the world working for me.

33

Back at the beginning of January, I went with a whole bunch of college students from RDU to Passion conference in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a fantastic 4 days full of worship, teaching, and fellowship with friends (old and new). We worshipped the God of the universe with about 45,000 college students from all across America and from all around the world. And next year its going to be even bigger- next year there will be around 70,000!! If you are between 18 and 25, you should really consider coming next year! It was the best way to spend the last little bit of winter break. 

The point of me telling you about Passion is that while we were there, we not only learned and worshipped, we also responded and were challenged to "Do something now." The focus for Passion this year was ending human slavery. 

We were shown videos of former slaves from around the world- a woman who was a sex slave in Greece, a girl who was a domestic slave in the Middle East, and a man who was a slave on a rice farm in India. 

Around the world right now there are more than 27 million men, women, and children living in slavery. Everywhere from the cocoa fields in West Africa to the red-light district of Amsterdam to downtown Raleigh, people are living in slavery. 

More people are enslaved now then ever before. 

We think of slavery as a thing of the past. Isn't that what the civil war was over? (if you didn't learn history in the south at least). 

Slavery seems old and barbaric, something that would not be happening in a modern world. 

But it is. 

And it happens here. 

Its not just something that happens in the developing world, its happening here. In New York, in Los Angelos, in Durham. 

But we are not powerless. Together, those of us at Passion raised over $3 million to give to organizations around the world fighting human trafficking and slavery. 

So what can you do? What can I do now?

First, find out your slavery footprint.

Slaveryfootprint.org is a great website that explains better than I can the state of slavery in the world today. They will explain where you have slaves working for you and what you should do about it.

I calculated my footprint and I own 33 slaves around the world. In Latin America, Africa, Asia, and India.

Note- these are estimates of course. There is no real way to know exactly how many slaves are affected by you, but still, the point is that my shoes, jeans, and car were made by forced labor around the world. 

Its sad, but the truth of the matter is that it is just about impossible to live in this world and not buy things produced by slaves. Especially if you are living on a budget. 

The point is not to right now swear that you will never buy anything ever made by a slave again, you won't last. You will burn out. 

The point is to take action, any action. 

Choose one product that you don't want to buy anymore. I wrote this post last year about Hershey. I will admit that I have gotten slack in this regard and given in to the temptation for Reese's a few times. 

Slaveryfootprint.org makes it easy to make a difference. They have an app (that I already downloaded) that helps you know if a product is made by slaves and if it is allows you to e-mail the corporation and make your voice heard demanding the end of slavery. 

You can also go right now and sign this petition from the International Justice Mission for President Obama demanding action to bring about the end of slavery. 

As believers, we cannot ignore this problem around the world. The Bible is clear on God's stand about justice. God hates injustice. He hates slavery. Let's hate what He hates and love what He loves.

 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
   because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
   he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
   and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Isaiah 61:1

For I the LORD love justice;
   I hate robbery and wrong;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
   and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 

Isaiah 61:8

 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 25:41-46

Haven't I learned this before???

So it has seriously been a long time since I blogged! I really want to be better about posting and sharing my thoughts with you guys (because I know that you all are dying to hear my thoughts).

I'm going to try to be a lot better! And try to put up some pictures or something like that.

On the same note- I have yet to finish putting up pictures from the summer on my Facebook page. Clearly I am really bad at this stuff.

But to the point of this post. This year I have decided to do the For the Love of God reading plan with my friend Bemi. Each day we read 4 chapters from different books of the Bible. Right now, we are reading in Genesis, Nehemiah, Matthew and Acts. By the end of the year, we will have read through the Old Testament once and Psalms and the New Testament twice. They also give you a blog to follow that gives you some thoughts on the chapters that you read. And you know how much I love a good blog. All that to say- if you want a good plan to read through the Bible this year, you should join in! It's not too late. I have never read the Bible all the way through, so I am really excited to be reading the whole thing this year. Seriously, we are given the very word of the God of the universe, so how about we read it!?

The other day, I was reading in Matthew and I was struck by something. I was reading Matthew 14 where Jesus feeds (more than) 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish and there are 12 baskets of food left over. We all know this story, we have heard it over and over. The disciples doubted and didn't believe that Jesus would be able to feed everyone, but then He does and everyone is amazed and happy.

Then what happens?

In the very next chapter, Matthew 15, there are 4,000 people (again, more when counting women and children). Jesus calls the disciples and tells them that He wants to feed them. I wonder if He was testing their faith, seeing what they would say. If they would say, "Great idea, Jesus, you fed even more people last week, so I bet you could do it again." That's not how they responded. Again, they looked at him (probably like he was crazy) and asked where they could possibly get enough food to feed all those people.

Reading this, I just had to laugh and gape at the disciples. I'll be honest, I don't always have a lot of patience for the disciples. I often wonder how in the world it took them so long to understand and believe. I mean they had Jesus right there in front of them! They had seen him feed thousands, heal people, and walk on water, but they still doubted.

But as soon as I had that thought, I had one of those "ohh..." moments as I realized, I do that everyday.

I have had an extremely interesting (to say the least) past 2 weeks.

Moments where I doubted, questioned and just all around didn't believe God's promises and His faithfulness.

Moments just like the disciples. Jesus had already proven that he could care for people's needs, that he could feed thousands with a lunchable (as pastors like to say). But here I am doubting that he will be able to do it again.

I was left laughing at myself, laughing at the disciples and asking, "Haven't I learned this before?"

But isn't that the beauty?

I have already learned this. God has already proven himself faithful.

Jesus had already proven that he could feed the masses, but he was just as willing to show his power again.

Because he knows that sometimes we need reminders. Sometimes we have to learn things a few times before it finally sinks in.

I am endlessly thankful that we serve a God who is loving and patient. Who just like a loving parent, will graciously teach me the same lessons.

And I pray, that one day his lessons will sink in. I'm thinking that they will, because after all, the disciples didn't stay doubtful and forgetful. They became the pillars that the church was built on.

God is faithful. God is good. God is sovereign.