victoria's secret: forced unpaid child labor

Do you believe everything happens for a reason? What if the reason why children are still being forced into unpaid labor is because we haven’t done anything about it yet?

From the Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel: A pastor once asked his church to pray that God would shut down a neighborhood bar. The whole church gathered for an evening prayer meeting, pleading with God to rid the neighborhood of the evils of this bar. A few weeks later, lightening struck the bar and it burned to the ground. Having heard about the church’s prayer crusade, the bar owner promptly sued the church. When the court date finally arrived, the bar owner passionately argued that God struck his bar with lightning because of the church members’ prayers. The pastor backtracked, brushing off the accusations. He admitted the church prayed, but he also affirmed that no one in his congregation really expected anything to happen. The judge leaned back in his chair, a mix of amusement and perplexity on his face. Finally he spoke: “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Right in front of me is a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer and a pastor who doesn’t.”

From the Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel:

A pastor once asked his church to pray that God would shut down a neighborhood bar. The whole church gathered for an evening prayer meeting, pleading with God to rid the neighborhood of the evils of this bar. A few weeks later, lightening struck the bar and it burned to the ground.

Having heard about the church’s prayer crusade, the bar owner promptly sued the church. When the court date finally arrived, the bar owner passionately argued that God struck his bar with lightning because of the church members’ prayers. The pastor backtracked, brushing off the accusations. He admitted the church prayed, but he also affirmed that no one in his congregation really expected anything to happen.

The judge leaned back in his chair, a mix of amusement and perplexity on his face. Finally he spoke: “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Right in front of me is a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer and a pastor who doesn’t.”

Can’t wait to do this one day!

We can’t have it all, right? Because choices have sacrifices and inevitably that means giving up something that you want for something you want more
Jones, White Collar

“Rise,” by Hillsong

Eighty percent of young unmarried evangelicals between the ages of 18 and 29 have had sex
Scott Fenster, http://m.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationship/features/26441-tales-of-a-25-yr-old-virgin

this man chased down a kidnapper and rescued a 6-year-old girl

“Father of 2 becomes hero in abducted girl’s rescue”

It was coincidence that Antonio Diaz Chacon had come home from work early to spend time with his family Monday afternoon. It was also a coincidence that the family’s washing machine had just gone out, forcing them to do laundry a block down the road at a relative’s home.

Had it not been for that, Diaz Chacon wouldn’t have been there to see the girl thrown into a van as another neighbor yelled for the would-be kidnapper to let the child go.

Diaz Chacon is credited with saving the girl after chasing the van through a maze of neighborhoods to the edge of where Albuquerque’s sprawling housing developments meet the desert. It was there where the van crashed into a pole, the suspect fled and Diaz Chacon was able to rescue the girl and take her home.

He didn’t think twice about his actions: ”The way he grabbed her and threw her into the van, I knew it wasn’t right… I knew I had to catch him. I had to get the girl back from him and take her home, back where she belongs,” he said.

I switched places with a homeless person and begged for money by a freeway exit

A few Saturdays ago, a couple buddies and I prepared some xiao long bao (soupy dumplings) and went out to serve the homeless and needy. Jewel, Ellison, and I got to meet this woman named Elizabeth who was begging by a freeway exit. No more than a few minutes into the conversation Elizabeth says to me, “Do you want to know how it feels? Why don’t you try flying a sign for a little bit while I sit down and have a conversation with Jewel?” There was no way I could say “no,” right? So for the next hour and a half I held up a “homeless, please help” sign and begged for money.

What a crazy experience! Usually when you see a homeless person, you try and avoid them right? You move as far away from them as possible and keep your eyes fixed on the ground or straight ahead because if you make eye contact they might try and ask you for money and then you’re going to feel bad because you’re not going to give them anything. This is not what happened to me. Instead I had people straight up staring at me-unashamed and extremely obvious staring. They’d literally be stopped at the light with their necks cranked 90 degrees just looking at me. A ton did double takes as they drove by too and some even looked kind of pissed. I’m sure they were all trying to figure out what was going on since they could probably tell I wasn’t homeless.

After 30 minutes of nothing but stares, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a man fiddling around inside his car. My heart immediately began to race! But I didn’t want to seem over excited lest he change his mind. So I kept looking in another direction. Eventually he rolled down his window and gave me a dollar. No lie, the gratitude I felt in that moment was so great! After standing on that corner for 30 minutes, enduring stares and judgment, finally, one person stopped to acknowledge me and to do something nice for me. I really can’t even describe to you what that feels like.

Give give give to those in need! Sometimes we over think giving to the homeless-we’re afraid they’re going to buy drugs or booze (because we don’t spend money on those things ourselves, right?) and so we rationalize that it’s better to just ignore them. If giving away money is uncomfortable to you, carry around McDonalds gift cards or other goodies that you can feel good about giving away. Materials to enhance the enjoyment of life (sketch pads, books, sunblock, etc.) would surely be welcomed too! God’s blessings really are not meant to be used solely for our own enjoyment (and this goes for all of life; not just with regards to the homeless). 

The whole time I was on that street corner I kept hoping that good people would show up and that bad ones would not. I guess the question here, then, is can people who are not doing anything to make this world a better place still be considered “good”?

Likes