What if ...

What if someone could find a way into the lives of traffickers? What if someone could gain a hearing with them in order to tell them how much better their lives would be with Jesus Christ?

About 10 or 12 years ago I met a man named David Yone Mo, who had been the leader of a notorious street gang in Burma (known as Myanmar at the time). He was brutal and fearless, having taken control of the gang when the former leader backed down from David's challenge to a fight--in a barrel, with razor blades.

David found himself near death after using dirty heroin needles, and doctors gave him less than a week to live. He began to read the Bible, and he committed his life to Christ. Christ saved his soul and healed his body. Within a week, instead of being dead, David was out of the hospital. He went to his lieutenants and led them to Christ. They disbanded the gang and formed in its place the Myanmar Young Crusaders, who through the years have helped many people overcome drug addictions, helped opium growers to switch to different cash crops, and led many people to faith in Jesus Christ.

David, this brutal man, became compassionate. He had a significant ministry to people suffering from leprosy (Hansen's disease) that began when he agreed to share a meal with residents of a leper colony, in spite of the flies that would land on the people's open sores and then on the food he was about to eat. The people said that people had come to visit them before, but none had ever eaten with them. He did it out of love for Jesus and for them.

I'm just thinking what an impact it might have if a trafficker found Jesus Christ, realized the wickedness of his work but also the power of Christ to transform people, and then worked to lead other traffickers to renounce their ways and live a life of love and compassion.

The Apostle Paul persecuted Christians before becoming one himself. John Newton was a slave ship captain, and the fruit of his conversion is still seen as people sing "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me." God has saved wretches before--millions of us! He can certainly save wretches who at this point are trafficking persons.