Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Never Again

I'm in the midst of a research paper for my Human Services class on the topic of Sex Trafficking. Not sure what made me pick that topic, but it has been very interesting to research. Perhaps I chose that topic because Ukraine is one of the top "exporters" of trafficked women and I have Ukraine on my mind a lot these days.
There have been times during the last few weeks that I have gotten sick to my stomach reading some of the articles and studies that have been done on these victims. Horrible stories about women who had been kidnapped or tricked into a life of abuse, rape, and torture. My focus has been on women victims, but I know the stories about trafficked children are even worse. In one article, the researchers had interviewed not only victims, but also traffickers and men who used these prostitutes. The traffickers interviewed had no regrets, but saw themselves as good businesspeople. The men "customers" told horrific stories of what they had done to these women.
After a morning of working on this paper, I got into the car the other day and stuck in a worship CD, needing to be lifted up. Torben and I got the Fourth Circle CD by 100 Portraits (A great CD by the way) and I got to the song "Never Again" and tears came to my eyes. Here are the lyrics

You feel the grieving of the broken and You hold them in Your Hands
And You listen to their prayers
You hear the crying of the orphan and You hold them in Your hands
And You listen to their prayers, their prayers

Wake up God! Move yourself!
Wicked men have crushed Your children
We pray, we wait
How long until You say
Never Again

You see the bruises on the victims and You hold them in Your hands
And You listen to their prayers, their prayers

Wake up God! Move Yourself!
Wicked men have crushed Your children
We pray, we wait,
How long until You say
Never Again

You are King forever and ever
Your kingdom come on down
Just as slow like waters
Wickedness will drown

I loved that song before that day, but after reading all of those stories I found myself crying and wishing God would go ahead and say "Never again!" I know that it is His patience that holds Him back for now, but I do look forward to when He will put an end to the suffering of this lost world.