Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Obsession

Have I ever felt this passionate about anything? I've asked this more than once over the past few weeks.

The answer probably doesn't matter. What matters is that after several years of lending prayer support and some financial support to the cause of defending the oppressed, I have felt some kind of an explosion within me. I think it might be how the prophet Jeremiah felt when he said,

"His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot" (Jer. 20:9, NIV).
The world today contains as many as 27 million people who are in slavery, either for labor or for sex. Traffickers often deceive victims by saying they can offer the victim a legitimate job or that the victim can simply work for awhile to pay off a loan. But the job isn't legitimate, and the loan can never be paid, because the trafficker then simply takes the victim by force. The now-enslaved person is held under lock and key and there is no escape. Even if there were, the slave is told that his or her family will be beaten or killed if the slave tries to escape.

It is madness.

It has become clear that I am supposed to help fight for the freedom of slaves. Everything in my background and personality seems to cry out that I was made for this. Not that I have law enforcement, legal or investigative training, but just that in some way, God made me for this. The Apostle Paul wrote,


"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Eph. 2:10, NIV).

I think God created me to do this good work. I don't know exactly what that means, but I am committed to finding out, and in this blog I intend to write about this journey and this fight. Maybe as I figure out a concrete way to serve, the thoughts here can help someone else to join the abolitionist cause.

Why is this called "Bob's Clapham Blog"? It is named in honor of the Clapham Sect, a group formed in 1791 by William Wilberforce and others as they fought to end the British slave trade--a goal they finally achieved in 1807. It took a long time. It was worth it.

Are you obsessed, too?

Bob

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Is William Wilberforce the Amazing Grace writer?