Sex is not a Trade

a column out of RELEVANT magazine -

Sex is not a trade.

It isn't something that should be bought or sold. It shouldn't be used as a form of abuse. It shouldn't be used as motivation to have men, women and children placed into slavery.

But unfortunately, it is.

Living and working in Cambodia I have discovered that I am living in what is called a transit nation. Not only does Cambodia have its own thriving and corrupt sex industry, but it is also a transit place for Vietnamese, Chinese and Laotian “workers,” as they are transported around South-East Asia.

A common sight throughout the city of Phnom Penh is to see provocative dressed young women, sitting in lines outside the many Karaoke bars. Men are free to pick their “company” for the night, and enjoy the music and food. Some of the many massage parlors double as brothels, and if a man wants good fortune all he needs to do is find a virgin.

To really get an understanding of the sexual climate here, you only need to look as far as the family.

In some families children are masturbated to sleep; it becomes an ingrained activity from a very early age. Children are even sometimes encouraged (more like forced) into compromising relations with other family members.

Just the other day, I was reading through the Phnom Penh Post newspaper and I read about the story of a 29-year-old man who had killed his 14-year-old niece. When he had attempted to rape her, she had put up too much of a struggle. Since he felt she was preventing him from taking what he felt was his right, he killed her.

These stories always leave me feeling at a loss, broken for the young people who have become instruments to be abused by others.

I know stories like these exist all around the world. Even in developed nations like Australia, the States and Canada. In fact anywhere where people are, abuses like these can be found.

When people are committed to satisfying their own cravings, regardless of the cost, there’s nothing left but whole families and communities wracked by injustice, without any hope for change.

I remember when I was a fresh-faced westerner coming to Cambodia for the first time a few years ago. My team and I were able to meet a fellow Aussie who has committed his life to serving his adopted Cambodian village. After a number of years caring for his community, this passionate Aussie was able to set up a life-changing orphanage, focused upon providing opportunity for the next generation, while assisting the current.
He told us stories of how he has helped to prevent families from selling their children into the sex trade.

On one occasion he discovered that a local family was negotiating to sell their child. They were a very poor family, and they couldn't feed the children they already had. Housing a large family in a one-room hut, with a roof made from leaves, they were tempted to sell their youngest for extra funds. My new friend didn't believe the family quite understood what they were planning to sell the child into, since the man from the city doing the negotiating had claimed he was going to provide a new family for the child.

My Aussie friend visited the family everyday for almost a week. He would beg for the child. Emotional, he pleaded that the family would let the child live in his orphanage, that they would let him care for the child. He said that the family would still be free to be involved in the life of the child, under the condition that they wouldn’t sell the child. My friend was not offering any money, just a genuine future and hope for the child.

After many hours, and much begging, the family handed over the care of their child to the care of the little-known Australian, committed to loving and caring for the children of his village.

He knows that what he did saved that child from slavery.

I know that he didn’t have to do it.

He didn’t need to spend those days begging for the child. He didn’t have to care. He didn’t have to defend another’s rights. He could have kept quiet. He could have played it safe.

Thanks to him, that child is safe.

I love meeting the everyday people who have decided to defend the defenseless. I love the stories about how they have been challenged to live beyond themselves. Some do it on forgiven soil, others in their own homelands. All are committed to laying down themselves, picking up their crosses, and living in such a way as to see that even the “little ones” are free to come forward and have a voice.

The sex industry, with all its elements of human trafficking, child abuse and slavery is truly an ugly sight in creation. So many things need to happen to bring it to a stop. I’d love to see the healing of whole families. To see the hurtful patterns stopped. To see children free of abuse.

I’d love to see the church continue to minister hope and life into these environments, regardless of how long it takes to beg for the children.

all you need is Love update

What up guys,

Man can I just say that God opens up doors of opportunities all the time. The things and ideas that we've got are just amazing, now its just putting dates on them. PLEASE PLEASE be on the lookout for events that will feature TOMS Shoes, INVISIBLE CHILDREN, and hopefully ZAO Water.

We're gonna be doing a back to school event to give bookbags and school supplies out to the kids of Goldsboro as well as helping out with The Special Olympics. I'm gonna need a team so please let me know if youre interested. We'll have t-shirts then also, i'll let u know a price on that later.

Unitl then, God Bless and I have a All You Need is Love theme song now,

Open our eyes
To see the things that make Your heart cry
To be the church that You would desire
Your light to be seen



Break down our pride
And all the walls we’ve built up inside
Our earthly crowns and all our desires
We lay at Your feet



Let hope rise
And darkness tremble
In Your holy light
That every eye will see
Jesus our God
Great and mighty to be praised



God of all days
Glorious in all of Your ways
Oh the majesty the wonder and grace
In the light of Your Name



With everything
With everything
We will shout for Your glory
With everything
With everything
We will shout forth Your praise



Our hearts they cry
Be glorified
Be lifted high above all names
For You our King
With everything
We will shout forth Your praise

without fail

failure
everybody experiences it. some will admit it, while others want. Some use it for motivation. Some use it for self-pity. Regardless, its hard to accept and deal with.

don't put your hopes and dreams on me I'll fail you.
don't put your hopes and dreams on other people, they'll fail you too, even if they don't want to.

don't fill the void in your life with other alternatives, they won't last.
don't depend on Christians to always say/do the RIGHT thing, they won't
don't freak out when you see or here a Christian say something they should't. Remember we are christians...not CHRIST.
don't get angry when a somebody calls you out on the wrong thing you said or did. We must keep each other accountable. Don't believe me, look it up in the Good Book.

I'm talking to myself more than anybody.

Whether we want to or not, we all fail ourselves or each other somewhere down the line, its a fact and inevitable.

Stop getting up tight, stop getting offended.

Put your trust and hope and dreams and life inside of the safest and most durable and trustworthy place..inside the heart of the Father who's love never fails.

No one said it was a piece of cake walk..it takes preservation and commitment. They funny thing is though, when we can't preserver any longer, He gives us the strength. HIS LOVE NEVER FAILS. HIS GRACE NEVER FAILS. There is nothing you can do to make HIM stop LOVING and CHASING after you...ITS IMPOSSIBLE.

so without haste trust in the God who Never Fails us..

What Is It To You

So after the mass response of my first post (sarcasm) I've decided to pull a blog posted by Pastor Steven Furtick out of Elevation Church in Charlotte,NC

This guys is a HUGEEE inspiration to me, if you are a "christian" you need to check this out. Come on read it all, it'll take 3 minutes of your life..and be well worth it.

What is that to you?

June 15th, 2009

After he was restored, Peter started speculating about the future of John. You’ll recall that John was the only apostle who stood by Jesus at the crucifixion (incidentally, he was also the one who actually referred to himself as “the disciple Jesus loved”-bold!). So I suppose Peter and the others were concerned about John getting preferential treatment and advancing past them in position based on performance.

Jesus set them straight with a response that we would do well to internalize:
“If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”
-John 21:22

When you’re tempted to compare yourself to another servant of Christ, heed the words of Jesus:
What is that to you?

If God sees fit to bless someone else with a greater measure of success than me, what is that to me? I’ve got my own race to run, and my own abilities to account for.

If someone else makes some decisions I disagree with, or if another brother stumbles and falls, what is that to me? God knows, I’ve gotten way off track in my own attempts to follow Christ.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. John 8:7
Let each servant stand or fall to his own master. Romans 14:4
Let he who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12

We wouldn’t have time to misjudge the motives of anyone else
if we were fully engaged in following Jesus ourselves.

breaking the ice

This isn't going to be a blog that everybody will want to read. This might be a blog that NOBODY reads. If that's the case that's fine with me. Either way here's the first post of many.

Without trying to sound prideful..I believe my life has a purpose. I look around sometimes..and still wonder if its true. I take a look at the outside circumstances and it makes me scared, it makes me stress. I start to sink a little. Anyone that knows me outside of my plastic mask could probably wonder if I'm really ready for the rest of my life.

But then I get lost a little. I get lost deep inside something that God puts in front of me. Whether it be a song, a scripture, or a situation..right in the middle of everything I see the stone. In Jason Upton's song "Stones" he sings of this.

"In the midst of the presence there's the stone. In the midst of the storm there's the stones. That the world rejected, there's the stone. And It kills the giants, there's the stone."

So I see that whenever I fail, or do something wrong. Or I see that outside events rising up, whenever I start to sink... I realize that there's the stone. The stone, the rock that is Jesus Christ is there for me to climb up on too.. but that same rock, the same stone..is the same stone that slayed the mighty giant..the giant of a problem that is in my life is overtaken by the stone.