While looking around the
room at the make up of people present at a recent prayer meeting for Cambodia I
was again surprised at who was there. Out of the 15 people present 12
were women and 3 were men. This started me thinking back to another time
when I was at a Conference on dealing with the problems associated with the
sexual exploitation of children in the World. Out of 180 people who
attended, 5 were men. This inspired me and I wrote about how
one man can make a difference in the World citing examples of Hitler, Stalin,
and Pol Pot for bad, and Moses, William Wilberforce, and
Abraham Lincoln for good.
In my six years
of being a volunteer for Ratanak International the numbers have stayed the
same. Approximately 8 out of every ten volunteers I have seen are
woman. This begs the question "If evil men are responsible for
the ruining of young children`s lives through their sexual depravity, how come
more good men are not coming forward to help these children put their
lives back together?"
I am most
definitely not a Saint and it is only by the grace of God that I have become
involved in restoring these children's
lives. At the same meeting mentioned above a lady was praying for the
abusers to stop abusing these children. As she prayed so beautifully I
was thinking of how I would like to stop them- with a baseball bat.
This invitation
is open to all male or female, I only know of my reasons why I found it hard to
become involved. Quite possibly not Uncle Sam, but a much higher
authority may be calling you.
This quote is
from Lisa Cheong, a woman working for Ratanak
International in Cambodia. These words came about after she confronted a
French pedophile
who was trying to purchase a young girl for sexual purposes.
"together we
are called to be modern day Moses who God is sending forth to seek justice on
behalf of the oppressed into places like Cambodia, a hot bed for sex tourism
and sex trafficking.
This battle is
not for the faint hearted, it can wear you down, it will disturb your spirit
when you hear and read of man`s inhumanity to a child, it will require more
than you and I can ever give but none the less, it is worth it- it is a fight
for life, it is a fight for dignity, it is a fight for freedom, it is a fight
for hope, and it is a fight for love."
These words resonate deeply
within me. Lisa uses the example of Moses who the Bible teaches us
delivered Israel from slavery out of Egypt. We remember the ten plagues
brought down on Egypt, we remember Moses parting the Red Sea with his staff, we
think of Moses and all the great things he did. Sometimes we
overlook Moses`s humble beginning.
God spoke to
Moses in the burning bush, telling him that Moses was to deliver Israel, Moses
did not exactly start jumping up and down for joy.
Exodus 3
11 Moses said
"Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh
and bring the Israelites out of
Egypt?"
Exodus 4
10 Moses said
"O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you
have spoken to your servant, I am slow of speech and tongue."
13 But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to it."
The latest
numbers I have are that currently 27 million people in the world live in
slavery. Over 2 million are children living in forced prostitution, at
least 30 000 of these live in Cambodia. This is a multi
Billion dollar industry.
I believe my
whole life will pass with these numbers virtually unchanged, or even getting
worse. For some that may seem overwhelming; that is giving a large number
of years to a cause that may never change. Many people I know are so
stressed about time constraints it is hard for them to commit to anything.
For those who are
new to this blog I run one full Marathon every Spring for the exploited
children in Cambodia. I came across this fact recently, only 0.5 percent
of the population will ever run one full Marathon.
For some,
thinking of a lifetime involvement for exploited children may seem like running
a marathon. I thought back to some people who have come and gone in the
Toronto Core Group for Ratanak International.
Early on I remember a person who was such an important part of the group moving
on to another calling. I was really concerned as this woman was such a
big part of the group that I thought it would be impossible to replace her.
The amazing thing is that when someone leaves someone else joins. God has
always provided the right people at the right time.
Not everyone will
be able to commit to a
lifetime of volunteering, as many cannot run a full Marathon.
The Mississauga
marathon has an interesting feature which my wife Gloria thought of our family
doing one day in the future. It is a relay for people to run a full
marathon. 3 people run 10km and the last person runs 12km.
Individually these people may not be able to run a marathon, but collectively
they can. My experience has been that these people are the most
supportive, when you run past them their cheers are the loudest.
I thought of the
many people who have crossed paths with me in my work for Ratanak International.
Some are on the
life long path, while others carry the baton for a while and than pass it off
to someone else who takes over for them. Both types of people are needed.
Fear may also be
a factor. Billion dollar illegal activities are controlled by very powerful, very
ruthless men. The selling of young children for sexual exploitation shows
the lack of moral decency these men have. Factor in a large number of
consumers who obviously have no ethics of their own. Last but not least
if you believe in good and evil, Heaven and Hell, Angels and Demons, God
and Satan it is quite obvious which forces are behind each side in this battle.
I would like to
share an example from my recent family vacation about fear and what it may cost
you.
While trying to
figure out which extra activities our family would try out in Punta Cana we
settled on para sailing.
We balanced the cost, and the uniqueness of this activity. We figured
that we could see Dolphins, water ski, or go on a party boat in Canada but as
far we knew we could not para sail.
I made a deal
with a salesman for a company that I felt was fair and waited for the perfect
day to try this out. I was to take the pictures as para sailing was
expensive, and we thought it would be nice for the girls to be together for this.
Gloria was
all for it, calm, cool Katarina was ready and
Isabella my youngest daughter who usually is full of bravado started out all in
favour of it, than started showing signs of fear.
This is extremely
out of character, as usually we have to try and rein in Isabella as she usually
has no fear. As the day approached Isabella told us "she had changed
her mind, and she did not want to go."
Sensing if I did
not hurry this issue was going to become bigger. I found the salesman and
completed our deal.
On the beach
Isabella told us again "she did not want to go." Gloria and I
told her "to trust us, we will not let you get hurt."
My family was
taken to a boat that was to take us out the deeper waters of the Ocean where
the para sail boat waited
for us.
The water was
very rough, and we had trouble getting on our life jackets. To really
frighten Isabella our boat driver smashed into the para sail boat
almost having me drop our camera into the Ocean.
I looked at my
family as they were being hooked up to the parachute harness. Isabella
had a look of abject terror, and was shivering I mouthed the words again to
her "trust me."
They took off and
a miraculous event
happened, Isabella instantly loved the feeling of flying, forgot all of her
fears and yelled out something along the lines of "now I am all grown
up."
These are some of
the words from a Tom Petty song called Learning to Fly
Learning to Fly
I`m learning to
fly, but I ain`t got wings
Coming down is
the hardest thing
Well some say
life will beat you down
Break your heart,
steal your crown
So I`ve
started out, for God knows where
I guess I`ll know
when I get there
I`m learning to
fly, but I ain`t got wings
Coming down is
the hardest thing
These words sum
up my involvement so far as a volunteer for Ratanak
International. I am learning to fly but I don`t have wings. God
only knows where I am to go, and the biggest truth is that coming down is the
hardest thing.
My biggest high
in life is when my foot crosses the finishing line of whichever marathon I
have chosen.
Most times I do not know if I am going to be able to finish the race
right until this moment. Every other distraction in my life goes
away and at this moment I believe I am taken to a view that is out of this
World. These feeling do not last and I must come down, yet I hunger
and thirst for more.
Possibly some of
you, my readers, are like Isabella was at the beginning of the
para sail Adventure.
At one time you
may have thought about becoming involved but now fear, and doubts have set
in, leaving you paralysed.
As I look back on my Families example I see an important similarity to my
involvement in the lives of these children.
We did not send
Isabella on the para sail by
herself. We did say trust us, BUT Gloria her Mother went with her.
If you have been called to this ministry Jesus will be with you every step
of the way, the same as Gloria was with Isabella, the same as God was
with Moses.
Larry
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