what's it going to take?

+the average age of a young girl entering prostitution is 13 years old.

+the average life expectancy of a prostitute is 34 years old.

+there are 27 million people enslaved in the world today.

+244,000 children are at risk of people trafficked in the united states.

most of these young girls, when they are arrested for soliciting for prostitution, after they are forced (probably because they were trafficked) into prostitution, must serve a jail sentence. in some cases, jail is the safest place for these young girls. jail. the safest place.

so you take these young girls off the street for a time. then send the girls back to the street. where their pimps find them again. probably beat them for getting arrested. then the girls are forced back into prostitution.

many of the girls are addicted to drugs. they started taking drugs in order to have sex (be raped) by multiple men each day. then these girls get addicted to drugs and then must sell their body's to pay for the drug addiction. it's a vicious cycle.

child sexual abuse. drugs. pornography. low self-esteem. 

are you angry yet? are you enraged? i read things like that, i read stories of these girls and i can't help but weep. over the injustice. over what these girls are going through. over the fact that in one year, human trafficking moved up from 3 to becoming the 2nd most lucrative criminal enterprise in the world after drugs...beat out weapons. why? because you can use a girl as many times as you want. and once she is no good, go get another one.

and. as much as i want to despise these horrid men who hurt these young girls. the Lord is showing me that they need just as much love. 

get angry. get fired up. what would you do if it was your daughter...you sister...you cousin...your neighbor? what if it was you? what you want people to do to help you? 

what's it going to take? "justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are." -benjamin franklin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32To8jqq3A0&feature=player_embedded

a little inspiration

disclaimer: i do not know how to write short posts. this will most likely be long. enjoy.

so. it's been almost a month since graduation. i've been "relaxing" or at least trying to learn how too. it's a hard process, but i am hoping i will be successful by the end of the summer. with all this free time...(blech),i have had time to read! Two regular novels, The Art of Racing in the Rain and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Both great! 

I got a book at the library the other day, The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time, because it had a little section on Jane Addams (first lady of social work!!!), who is stinking awesome. a HUGE advocate for the poor and oppressed, helped start the NAACP, spoke out against child labor and fought for better working conditions, started the first settlement house, and worked for the president. great strong woman. a few of the other 100 women....

frances perkins: volunteered at Hull House (Jane Addams), 1st woman member of the NY State Industrial Commission, worked for Roosevelt and helped draft the New Deal and promoted passing of Social Security Act...
mary mcleod bethune: foundexd National Council of Negro Women, founded Southeastern Federation of Colored Women, and became 1st African-American presidential adviser when FDR named her director of Negro Affairs of National Youth Administration...
eleanor roosevelt, harriet tubman, rosa parks, indira gandhi, madame c.j. walker...

so many great women. who were strong advocates. who are so inspiring. i want to have a few pages written about me in a book like this one day...
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i got an email from someone for the Inspire Magazine at CU wanting to write an article about the 10k for the next issue. She sent me questions to answer and as i thought back on the whole process, i can't help but think...did that really happen? did we serious organize a 10k, get almost 600 people to run it and raise over $22,000 for Gracehaven? yes. we did. caitlin wrote a follow up and said, because we pursued the impossible, GOD accomplished the incredible. mmm. so true.

i got an email from Jeff yesterday saying that a writer who was working on a follow-up book to her newest one on human trafficking interviewed him about Gracehaven and he told her about the 10K. so she emails me wanting to talk. and calls me today and asks me about the 10k story. so i tell it. again. and i think. seriously. oh. my. word. how did this thing even happen?? the cool thing is that she is writing this new book, a sort of "how to" guide to fighting human trafficking with "inspirational" stories about what people have done, different organizations and such...it sounds like the 10k story is going to be in it. whahooo! how stinking cool would it if the story is in a book, and a fiery, little abolitionist reads it and it inspires him/her to do something crazy huge to fight trafficking. ahh. "i run because long after my footprints fade away, maybe i will have inspired a few to reject the easy path, hit the trail, put one foot in front of the other" -dean karnazes
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i bike every other morning...9-11 miles, at the Y, which means i need reading material. i want to be intentional about keeping my mind engaged and thinking about Kingdom issues, so i borrowed my dad's copy of Make Poverty Personal by Ash Barker. I read the first chapter today: Moses, the Exodus, and the Courage to Face the Nature of Poverty. Wonderful chapter. he is talking about all of the excuses people say about not joining the fighting to end poverty, using the five excuses that Moses said when God called him. as i am reading, i am thinking again about the 10k, and all those times i said, "God, why me?" "God, what are you doing?" "God, are you sure?" "God, i have no idea what i am doing, i don't know how to plan a race, i barely know how to run..." "God, i just want to quit." i thought of all those times that i got discouraged and thought the idea was crazy and that it would never work....so many feelings of inadequacy. BUT GOD. don't you know He had a plan. with each discouragement, came an even bigger encouragement. i'm telling ya, give all those feelings of inadequacy up to the Lord, and He will work it out. 2 Cor. 12:9-10. mmm. yes. 

Barker says "i wonder how many people do not get involved with the suffering of others because they want the grace ticket in advance...like Moses, we can scare ourselves by trying to imagine ourselves in future places for which God has not yet given us grace. so we miss out on the ride of our lives and end up only living cautiously." 
.......................................
wrap it up jen. basically, so much encouragement and...inspiration everywhere. and excuses don't count. there is no excuse for not doing anything. i think of the women i mentioned above, all they had to go through to get to where they got. they did not settle for people telling them that what they were fighting for was stupid, the fought. Moses gave a thousand (or..5ish) excuses for why he was not the right person to fight for justice, but the Lord said, hey, trust ME. and He worked it out. 
what i can conclude:
1. realize that excuses don't work. 2. give all our inadequacies to the Lord. 3. trust Him to use us. 4. don't listen to what people say, because if it is a God thing, then nothing people say will make a difference. 5. FIGHT! [[how else will i get to be in a 100 Most Influential Women book one day? ;) ]]
"never be discouraged from being an activist because people tell you that you'll not succeed. you have already succeeded if you're out there representing truth or justice or compassion or fairness or love." - doris haddock

perfect timing,

first blog post!!

two days before Easter, after a crazy second semester and a month from HELL (10K, Child Abuse Prevention Month Kick-Off, Transforming Compassion Into Action Community Night, Legalized Prostitution Sr. Research presentation in 2 classes...all with-in a 2 week span of time), i got my wisdom teeth out. all 4. impacted. erupted. i thought i could get them out on friday, and be back to school on tuesday. but i got dry sockets.

see, the Lord's timing is perfect, as much as i dislike it at times. those who know me, even slightly, know that i do not do well sitting still...gotta always be doing something, going a thousand miles an hour (see above...all that craziness in 2 weeks), so sitting still for a week was killing me. but. the Lord knew i desperately needed it. one day during this week of rest, i realized...i am going a thousand miles an hour, always doing something, i never sit still. so, i decided...with the help of the Lord, that this summer and into the fall, that i would relax, take a sabbatical of sorts. i was going to get an easy job, make a bucket list, visit friends, move with the 'rents to FL and relax on the beach while i finish up my last semester of online classes. this was the plan. and a surprising one at that seeing as how i was planning on finishing up school in the summer and then move to OH to find a job.

so, i go back to school, finish up, GRADUATE...but the week before i find out about the possibility of interning with Jeff from Gracehaven. of course, i am more stoked than words can express. i get confirmation two days after graduation that it is a go. i would be running to and from Columbus, sitting in on HT meetings, learning how to run a non-profit, helping work on the house, researching for the next HT bill in OH...perfect internship. and i even convinced myself that i could still relax while interning (because dealing with stories about girls being trafficked and raped for profit really allows for relaxation...). 

but. the Lord's timing. not what i wanted. but i said i couldn't do the internship. the Lord is really doing a work in me in regards to my busyness because i wrestled with the decision to go or not for a good week, and in the end, i knew the best decision was to say no...and relax. then i realized...i don't really know how to relax. so add that to the bucket list. ;) so. all my great columbus friends, i sadly won't be seeing you this summer, only visiting.

even though i am quite sad that Gracehaven did not work out, i must say, i am excited to do some things on the bucket list, which may seem not very cool, but things i have really missed out on the past 4 years:
grow a garden.
READ (i've been doing this already!!).
take pictures.
cook -try new recipes.
train for a HALF-MARATHON. (in October. my daddy and i are running a
       5k in June, and 10k in July. i got him hooked back on running with the 10K!)
paint. a 3 part series.
learn spanish.
learn about cars.
write a book with my kiddos.
learn what it means to live simply.
spend more quality time with the Lord.
road trip.
start a blog. (check)

learn to relax. and get a job.


-better insights to come.