Everytime I drive down my street after dark I see them. Girls. For sale. Every night. It's painful. I don't like that my kids are growing up in a place where this is normal. Where men are expected to go there as a normal part of their day. I would rather shut my eyes, or look at the restaurant across the street. We sometimes drive down a different, less convenient road so that we can avoid seeing them.
In America, we kept to the nice areas where we didn't see this stuff. It was easy to get where we wanted to go and not even think about the hard lives that other people live. It's not so easy here. I can't avoid seeing the dirty kids playing in the alley across from my house. I can't ignore the place just a few doors down from us that sells people. When I go to kid's club I can't help but notice that many of the kids are still wearing the same dirty tattered clothes that I've seen so many times before. Poverty (and the pain, frustration and poor decisions that often go along with it) is very real here.
Jesus didn't avoid these people, He loved them. That is my goal, to love them like He did. To show them how much He loves them. I hope the kids I interact with see that love. I'm glad that God has moved me to a part of the world that has forced me to open my eyes. I pray that I can be used by God here and wherever else he sends me in this world.
