photo: CCO public domain graphic: Martha G. Brady
THIS IS NOT A POST FOR CHILDREN!
(The first post was just too, too long! I broke it up in two parts. This is the skeleton with the video of Dan Allender. The next part has more of the story.)
I’m sitting in my comfortable chair this morning sipping my chai and mulling over a meeting I attended last night…and last month. (It was last night when I wrote this. It has been a couple of weeks now.)
It’s a meeting of the WSA…. We meet in a restaurant over a meal…it’s a great place to meet and get to know a variety of people from all walks of life, many of whom come straight from work! Despite how grand we may sound, we aren’t huge. But our goal?…to wipe out human trafficking in our state…starting with our city!
I know. I’m a sceptic too! But when I stop to think about it, I realize that it isn’t up to me. GOD is much bigger than we are and He uses weak, instruments most of the time. So just maybe…
They were looking for a way to help end human trafficking…
WSA was looking for a way to help someone or an organization that was working to end human trafficking. When some of their group heard Lynn speak one night, they knew they had found the group! Lynn was trying to do so much of her work alone! She needed help. They decided to come alongside her to provide encouragement and help. Tennessee Valley Family Services is the official organization she is with. It has the tax number. WSA is unofficial. We don’t deal with money but we help raise money for her organization, find people to help her, and introduce people to what she is doing, help find grant writers, etc.
There are two ladies that are constants at our meetings. Lynn Caffery and Pat. Lynn runs a home for trafficked and runaway kids here in Huntsville from the ages of 16-22. It’s the only home of its kind in the state. At most, it can include 10 kids. It also includes kids who have aged out of foster care who may fit the other categories too…or have the potential for it. The home provides a structured setting where the kids get a job, save money and get their own car. Along the way, they learn to live in a family setting where they do chores in the home and learn to care for each other in healthy ways.
This is our long term goal to pray and plan for!
And then…there is a new challenge! A 4 acre piece of property has opened up to purchase. For the long term, this will be a much better solution for this group. Once the renovation of the present property is done, this property will be a great option. It will expand the ability of the organization to grow to reach more kids, to experience more space, to garden, and still have the blessing of a family life together.
What do we do in the meantime?
To combat this huge problem, we MUST pray…for GOD to defeat the powers of darkness in this arena! The ways in which He leads us to do it will be many. Guarding our minds sexually is certainly one way. Praying for the protection of the minds of our children. Many have to be on the internet but their minds need to be protected and they need to want to be protected from the impulses to “take a peek” at sites they know will not help their thought life. That goes for all of us.
We need to help our children learn to control their screen time. I’m told that particularly for boys, it is a problem in ways I don’t understand. My developmental psychologist daughter has been to conferences and learned that screen time is not good for kids…boys especially. It makes them more susceptible to pornography in the future. This was not some conservative Christian conference. It was a professional conference that would have included people that were unlikely to come from that worldview for the most part!
What can you do?
- Do what you are able to, to be aware of what is happening in your communities.
- Help give to organizations that are working to end human trafficking and its scars in your area,
- Help write grants if you can, for said organizations,
- Pray, pray, pray!
- Encourage those who are working in any of this kind of work. It is hard and often discouraging. Not all stories have a happy ending. Some are extremely sad! But GOD has placed you where you are in order to provide encouragement for them…a listening ear, hopeful words, prayers for hopeless situations.
Below is a very helpful, detailed conversation with Dan Allender, author of The Wounded Heart and Bold Love, about sexual abuse and power. He also speaks about trafficking and other related issues.
