What Does My Beard, A 14 Year Old Prostitute, and You Have in Common?

About three years ago, I began to get a firm grasp of the extent of human trafficking across the globe.  As I've dug into this issue, I've found that stories like Angie's in the video above are hardly uncommon.  At first I believed that forced prostitution was a "third-world problem".  It's in those countries that extreme poverty and political unrest make a trade in human lives possible.  But human trafficking touches every corner of the map.  Thousands of young girls in this country are being forcibly used by men for pleasure and profit.  

One part of Angie's story that particularly struck me was, "There's also lot of girls out there.  And a lot of them look like they're half our age."  Angie herself hardly looks to be more than a child, and yet that parking lot that night had "a lot" of potentially 8 or 9 year old girls being callously used and tossed by grown men.  

Girls are forced into prostitution at an average age of 14 years old.  Statistics compiled by the website www.prostitutionresearch.com show that violence against prostitutes is at epidemic levels.  Studies have shown that conservatively 62% of women were raped in prostitution, 83% report being assaulted with a weapon.  One Canadian study found the mortality rate of prostitutes to be 40 times higher than the national average.  When asked if they would leave prostitution, 92% of women answered they wanted to immediately if that was possible.   

The scale and depravity of this issue make it difficult for us to process.  We've been conditioned by culture to believe that women choose this lifestyle.  That they are the perpetrators, but too often in real life that simply is not the case.  These girls have their worth and innocence stolen from them by abuse, violence, coercion, and society.  

However, there are ways to act against sexual slavery.  And that's where my beard comes in.  DecemBeard is an awareness and fundraising initiative started by Lincoln, NE based I've Got A Name (IGAN).  Men are encouraged to take a stand against the evils of human trafficking by growing a beard through the month of December and take pledges to meet a chosen fundraising goal.  

This year a group of 5 Jefferson County pastors have banded under the "Fairbury Area Pastors Group" to lead the charge against human trafficking.  They have agreed to take the DecemBeard Challenge together to raise a community-wide fundraising goal for the Fairbury area.  Pastors Joel Hahn of First Baptist, Ken Hart of Faith Lutheran, and Brian Julin-McCleary of American Lutheran are all growing beards and Pastors Karl Lent of Peace United Methodist and Deb Valentine of Zion United Church of Christ are wearing DefendHer pins.  The DefendHer pins are another means for supporters of IGAN to show they are taking a stand to protect these exploited girls.  

Myself and few other members of the community are growing our beards out as well to support our pastors and their cause, but we can't do this without you.  The exploitation of women and children often occurs through a loose network of abusers, traffickers, pimps, and johns.  Only by rallying together can God's people hope to combat this widespread evil.  

There are a number of ways that you can get involved in this fight: 

LEARN - Several organizations on the internet are taking proactive stances in the battle against human trafficking.  There is a myriad of resources available to learn about modern slavery, foreign and domestic, sexual and labor oriented.  A few of them are as follows:  

I've Got A Name - Their website will connect you to more information about DecemBeard and DefendHer initiatives and how you can take the challenge or pledge to be a sponsor.  

Prostitution Research and Education - This above mentioned website is a good resource concerning prostitution and the violence inherent in that industry.  

Tiny Hands International - This is another Lincoln-based organization that fights trafficking predominantly in Nepal.  They have homes and learning centers for rescued women and operate several monitoring stations on the Nepali/Indian border where around 15,000 young women annually are trafficked into brothels.  

The Polaris Project - This organization operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-3737-888.  This is a great resource to learn about all types of slavery in the U.S. and what is being done about it.  

End Slavery Now - This website has compiled a great resource center for learning about trafficking.  It also points towards organizational and government responses.  

GIVE - You can also stand with those who fight human trafficking through your resources.  The "Fairbury Area Pastors Group" is hoping to find sponsors that will help them smash the $2000 fundraising goal for December.  You can go to I've Got A Name right here and click to sign up as a sponsor to the "Fairbury Area Pastors Group" and donate to this cause.  

It's also possible to give of your time to aid this struggle.  IGAN host an annual rally in Lincoln every spring.  Several of the above organizations hold similar rallies or marches in various locales across the nation.  Stay connected to them to learn about volunteer possibilities in your area.  

PRAY - This is a spiritual issue.  Its roots are deep in cultural perspectives on the values of women and human life, both globally and as a nation.  Mere human efforts are doomed to fail in this arena.  We need to ask the Light of God to shine in these dark corners of culture.  When these evils are revealed, we can be encouraged to stand against them.  Only the Spirit of God can bring healing to the lives of women who have been so coarsely exploited and even to those men who have used them.  

Lately, I've leaned heavily on Isaiah 61:1 to encourage me to keep up the good fight against this injustice: 

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners."  

At the start of Jesus' ministry, He read from this passage in the synagogue and stated that "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  His time on Earth was spent in binding the brokenhearted and freeing prisoners until ultimately He did so for all humanity in paying our price from bondage to sin and death.  I ask you, can we who claim His Name do any less than strive to continue His work?  

The Consumer Conundrum

"There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own and His own did not receive Him." - John 1:9-11

First, my apologies to Nathan and Matthea for jumping in here.

Next, my apologies to gingerbread men.

Finally, you're welcome for the brief moment of laughter you may already be experiencing after watching this instantly classic commercial.

Okay, so what's the bent here?  Well, to be honest there can be several.  I mean, we could make the easy jump in paralleling the "path of least resistance" reference in the commercial to the "path to eternal life," but those kinds of dumbed-down analogies to the profundity of what happened on the cross sort of rub me the wrong way.  We could discuss the manipulation inherent to drafting as it's depicted in this ad, but that really pales in comparison to some of the other problems associated with Christmas shopping.  Or we could (and maybe should) discuss the terribly disconcerting question of, "Why haven't I seen any of these ads this year?"  I mean, c'mon Target, those commercials are gold!  That ad campaign is a winner!  Are you trying to lose revenue this Christma...

Aha, therein lies the rub!  THAT is the bent.  So often we hear things like, "Jesus is the reason for the season!," or "Keep Christ in Christmas!," or "It's not Happy Holidays, it's MERRY CHRISTMAS!"  And, while those have all become important cliches, they are still cliches and this is not another one of THOSE discussions.  No, this discussion is about the impossibility of breaking the cycle of consumerism.

What does Christmas mean to a poor family in a developing country?  In other words, do we really have any idea what "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"  means to the least of the least of the least of these or the 'not-iest' of the have-nots?  Not even a whiff!  What we're talking about here is most definitely a first-world problem, make no mistake about it.  BUT, what we're talking about here is also one of the most difficult problems many of us face on several levels, and yes, there is a point where worlds collide, and it just may be in the reconciliation of that collision that this "problem" disappears.

How many of us look forward to the Christmas season?  I'm talking about the pure, ideological, sugar-plums-dancing-in-our-heads parts of Christmas.  Probably most of us!  Now, what about if I throw in that all-important GIFT piece?  Less excited?  What about that family member who's oh so hard to shop for?  What about that family member we wish we could still shop for or hear their stories or enjoy Christmas dinner with, but they're no longer with us?  

Forget sugar plums, these things are beginning to feel like grenades rattling around in our heads; pins-pulled, imminently destructive grenades!  

And, as if those weren't enough things to think about, what about the friends and co-workers just beyond that immediate family circle, but just inside that to-distant-to-buy-a-gift-for circle?  Pressure mounting, suddenly we recall the gift that so-and-so bought for us last year that was totally out of nowhere!

"And I didn't get them a gift last year, so this year I've got to make up for two year's worth of gifts."

Approaching all-out panic at this point.

If you're like me there comes a point where Carol of the Bells begins sounding more like annoying alarm clocks ringing out reminders that I have T-minus two days until this gift is expected, T-minus three until that, and "Oh boy, you're past-due on this one."  

If you're like me, this along with the sound of cash registers, a nose-diving bank account, and the morphing of White Christmas into I'm dreaming of a black Christmas, while the harmony goes something like More red with every check I write are all bellowing simultaneously in my head.

Noisy enough for you yet?

We're almost there.

But we musn't forget the kids', cousins', nieces' and nephews' and the neighbor boy's Christmas plays and pageants.  Do I get them a flower or something?  Naw, I'll just be sure to tell them, "Break a leg" so maybe I can save an arm.

While there are even more things we could dump into this festive pot full of fruit cake, mistletoe, eggnog and frostbite, I'll stop there.

The first-world problem we're talking about here is essentially a Christmas Arms Race, a consumer nightmare, an emotionally claustrophobic gift box wrapped in airtight paper and tied strangle-hold tight with a bow.

And while it sounds like a World War in our heads, be reminded of that poor family in the developing country.  What do you think is going on in their heads?  Is it as stressful as what's going on in ours?  And if it's not, is this really a blessing in disguise?  What's it like NOT having the problem of stuff?  And how do we break the cycle?

Well, I don't have a definitive answer for any of these questions, but I do have a couple ideas.

We can't really break the cycle, but...

What if instead of ignoring the gift-giving arms race we acknowledged it...directly...with specific people in our lives for whom and between us this has been the case?

What if instead of trending upward in our individual gift allowances, we begin to reverse that trend?

What if invest more time in people throughout the year so we don't feel like we have something to make up for at Christmastime?

What if we spend time working with a church or soup kitchen for the holiday season (i.e. things like Operation Christmas Child, serving meals to the homeless and those less fortunate)?

What if it's as simple as just budgeting better?

What if we replaced one gift at home with equal investment abroad (i.e. buy livestock for a family in a developing country, go on a mission trip, support a child)?

This is where these worlds begin to collide.  And, you don't even have to go abroad to make this adjustment.

What if we picked a family in need off one of the trees in our local department stores, and then as a family, picked out gifts specifically for those folks?

What if we went really extreme, and totally, absolutely, unequivocally flipped Christmases with an underprivileged family; substituting our family Christmas in-whole to make just ONE Christmas memorable for someone else?

These are tough questions, but their answers may just be solutions to some of the financial, mental and emotional problems - yes, the first-world problems - we experience year in and year out in the a country where the very privilege to do so may just be one of the greatest blessings of all.

And, before anyone gets too up-in-arms, Jesus IS Christmas and His gift is without question the GREATEST one of all!