home is where the heart is.

over the river - jon foreman.

Hush, hush, hush, hush...
I heard a sound come from the ground
All of the trees are a buzz
Talking in tongues, talking with lungs
Talking of freedom

All of the earth is soon to give birth
Look at the mountains alive
Birds and the bees, insects and leaves
All of us longing, longing for home
Home, home is somewhere I've never known

Over the river
Over the river
I've set my hope
Over the river
Over the river
I'll find my hope in You, You

Death, where's your sting?
Your signet ring?
Where is your power?
Why all this war?
Death to the score
Nations are fading

Kingdom of light, setting us right
Finally human
Give me a tongue
It will be done
Inside I'm longing, longing for love
Love, love is something I've never known

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i love jon foreman. i love the depth he goes to write such profound lyrics. his lyrics speak to me personally, no matter how cheesy that sounds, in so many ways. i love this song and it's message. it's such a message of hope, and at the same time, it's about death. this is a dead and dying world. a fountain with no water that we keep drinking from. the water we get from this world is an illusion and it only dries us out. dries out our hearts, our minds, our souls, our lives. but for the believer, there is no sting. death has no sting upon us. death thinks it wins, but doesn't. how beautiful. something ugly can't affect us if we have Jesus in our lives. if our hope is placed over the river.

that is such a beautiful way to put it, i think. my hope is over the river. at the other end. the place that we don't know, yet we call it home. it's so amazing. my home is somewhere i've never seen, never been, but it's there. "home is where the heart is". that is such a valid statement. if your heart is in things, then it's gonna burn in a lake of fire with those things. but, if your heart is in God, it's going to live forever and forever. it's something that i don't understand and don't have to. all i know is that God is in me and that's really all that matters. i doesn't matter if you are or aren't a calvinist, a baptist, a theologian, whatever. all that matters is that you love God. we should do everything we can to glorify God, and that comes with Him living in us. amazing, isn't it?

i love to, at times, just sit back and look. the world is so confusing to me. i don't understand how it is so ugly and so beautiful. when i'm driving at 5 o'clock with the windows down, not a cloud in the sky, everything is bright and beautiful and i have my music playing, i don't understand how the world is ugly. i guess it's just the people in it. but even then, i see beauty. i see the wrong things in the world and people's actions, and that's ugly. but the creation is beautiful. it was effected by the fall, yes. but God didn't let all of His creation go to sin and darkness. it's so beautiful right now with the fall colors, the leaves coming off the trees, and the sun reflecting off of everything outside. it's gorgeous and sometimes makes me want to shout. it's things like that that make me want to move. no, not break out my killer dance skills, but do something. further advance the Kingdom. tell people, "if you think this is gorgeous, you should see this".

well, i guess that's it for now. life is short, live it well.
peace.

"I'm sick to my stomach. Let us never be comfortable with these types of facts. Let us be frustrated, angry, disturbed."

that right there is a jono quote.
and i totally agree with it concerning the topic he's talking about.

human trafficking is something that has recently hit really near and dear to my heart. it's just so wrong it kills me. how the heck can people do this sort of this? why? buying, selling, and trading young girls for sexual abuse? what on earth?!

okay, there's a little rant. hah. now here's some facts that i hope would wake some people up:

Supply and Demand
The "demand" of the multi-billion dollar global sex industry puts children throughout the world at-risk of becoming the “supply.” Criminal gangs, pimps and pornographers seek to profit from this demand by enslaving and abusing children, preying on those made most vulnerable by poverty, lack of education, minority status, gender bias and homelessness.

Often, captors will threaten, beat and starve new recruits to condition them for the fate that awaits: sex with multiple customers every day. Eventually this abuse “breaks” the children. They learn to force a smile for the pedophiles, sex tourists and others that frequent their establishments.

The Effects
Sexual exploitation and abuse have grave consequences on any person’s well being, especially a child’s. Unprotected sex, gang rapes, forced abortions and manipulation can cause severe psychological and physical damage, including HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases or conditions.

What is Child Trafficking?
According to the UN ODCCP Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, child trafficking is: the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of deception, of the abuse of power or of position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

Most countries in the world are involved – they may be a source of vulnerable children, a place they pass through, or a destination for trafficked children. Unfortunately, even the United States plays it’s part when U.S. “sex tourists” visit countries like Thailand or Cambodia and have sex with children, including those trafficked into the sex industry.

Children who are desperately poor are especially at risk of being trafficked. Trafficked children may be exploited by being used in prostitution or pornography, and labor in domestic, factory or agricultural work. In some countries, they are forced to risk their lives as soldiers. Some action is being taken to directly address trafficking by governments and non-profit organizations, but much more needs to be done.

Where is the problem?
Every year at least 1.2 million children are estimated to be trafficked around the world and that number is growing. Child trafficking is not limited to developing countries; the U.S. and Europe deal with domestic trafficking issues and also serve as destinations for trafficked children from abroad. Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa are also becoming hot spots for child trafficking. Today, the situation is dire in the Asian region, in countries such as: Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC)
ECPAT defines CSEC as the following: A Fundamental violation of children’s rights. It comprises sexual abuse by the adult and remuneration in cash or kind to the child or a third person or persons. The child is treated as a sexual object and as a commercial object. The commercial sexual exploitation of children constitutes a form of coercion and violence against children, and amounts to forced labor and a contemporary form of slavery. (ECPAT, Questions and Answers about CSEC) The primary factors of CSEC are prostitution, pornography, trafficking and sex tourism of persons under the age of 18. Under the age of 18 is an internationally recognized definition of child in numerous international treaties and conventions.

minors. young children are being beaten and sexually abused really for no reason.

here are some statistics:

Trafficking in persons is modern-day slavery, involving victims who are forced, defrauded or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation.

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) now believes that the number of children trafficked annually is around 1.2 million. (2006)

It is estimated that two children per minute are trafficked for sexual exploitation.

Annually, according to U.S. Government-sponsored research completed in 2006, approximately 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders, which does not include millions trafficked within their own countries. Approximately 80 percent of transnational victims are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors. The majority of transnational victims are females trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. (2007 Trafficking in Persons Report, U.S. State Department)

It is estimated that at least 27 million people are currently enslaved around the world, many who have been enslaved through being trafficked. This is more than double the number of Africans enslaved during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The U.N. and other experts estimate the total market value of illicit human trafficking at $32 billion - about $10 billion is derived from the initial "sale" of individuals, with the remainder representing the estimated profits from the activities or goods produced by the victims of this barbaric crime. (UNODC)

These numbers make trafficking in persons the second most lucrative crime in the world. The first is drug trafficking. (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2006).

About $28 billion of this is generated from commercial sexual exploitation. (International Labor Organization)

The organization to End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking in Children for Sexual Purposes believe that 45,000-50,000 persons are trafficked into the U.S. each year, 15,000 of them are children. (ECPAT-USA)

Common methods of trafficking:
- physical force
- coercion (debt relief for family, job, marriage, etc.)
- physical and emotional abuse
- threats against

this whole thing kills me. and something else i don't get is this:

no one seems to care.

tons of people that i've talked to about this really seemed very apathetic. or just "oh that's sad" or "oh that's terrible" and leaving it at that. come on, ya'll! we need to do something about this! we can, really and truly! you don't have to have money or tons of time or ways to get places. you can help anywhere! you know, james 1:27 says this:

27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

look after the orphans and widows. i love that verse. there is a sense of beauty about it that i just love and adore.

there is always something to do. some way to help. it kills me that people don't know about the needs of the world. it kills me more that people know the needs and do nothing about it. you don't have to go on a missions trip to another country. there are things you can do in your community. heck, even in just your church. just find something that you are passionate about and act on it! like jan in the office said "there's always a million reasons not to do something". decide what's more important. your silly little needs or dying children. for a while i cared about it, but never really acted. thank God for sending me to Cornerstone. i saw a ton of people working for the glory of God there and how they did amazing things and i want to be a part of it. i feel a strong calling, i suppose. now i know that i can't make someone feel a "calling" from God that i do, but you should, as a bible-believing christian feel the need to do something.

so go change your world! you really can!

it's bigger than cold religion. it's bigger than life. love is the movement. love is the revolution.

peace,

cecelia.