I had been holed up in the library finishing the last pages of a paper, when a phone call saved me from missing dinner. Half-hour later I was sitting in a coffeeshop, contentedly eating a sandwhich with three amazing friends.
“I have a book you should read. You’re going to Moldova, right?” Abby asked.
“Yeah. What’s the book.”
“Apparently, human trafficking is HUGE in Eastern Europe, especially in Moldova. I am reading a book by this reporter who went in there and found out all about it. Its terrible. You have to read it before you go.”
The conversation progressed from there. A past racer shared stories of her time in Thailand– girls dancing on poles with plastered smiles, being transformed into women with spirit and joy when taken away from there for a night– not to be used– but to be loved by God and His children. Abby shared other stories– these from her trip to Amersterdam. Women on display in windows, on sale like animal, plant, or inanimate object. It was mentioned that Toledo, OH is a key city for trafficking women and girls. Thrity miles from where I grew up. Stories followed of a little girl pushing her four-year old sister forward, offering her to man; of women who dream of escaping poverty, instead finding themselves enslaved to the lust and whims of men with money. The beatings, the lies, the cover ups…
God help us.
At some point it became a bit much for me. I wanted to cry. This is too big for me. I can’t change this. My heart would shatter if I try to comprehend such pain, desperation, and evil in this world. Maybe I am not cut out for the race? Maybe I have been lying to myself this whole time about being destined for something great in God’s kingdom? Maybe…
And then it hit me… not for the first and not for the last time. It’s not about me. It has nothing to do with me. I have been amazingly caught up in the small “trials” of my own life lately. I need to stop my narcissitc existence in its tracks and begin to open my eyes, my heart, and my mind to the reality that I was put on this earth to be concerned with more than a thesis, a broken heart, and graduation.
