And then there was fire....

So far this blog has been about a desire to do something, and not a lot of doing it.  That's been part of the journey.  Yeah, it gets boring to read and boring to live it.  Waiting.  Yuck.

And then there was light!    Like in the book of Genesis, suddenly things changed.  I think I'll have to post the whole scripture here since it's so relevant.  Here it is....

^"3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day."

 I saw the light and it was good. 

I just started concentrating my time, with the help of a Life Coach (more on Life Coaching and Mentorship later),  on research, new learning, new books.  All my needs stuff was done.  Office stuff ready.  Camera ready.   Did some surveillance, which gave me the creeps to do alone.  Sponsored a team from Florida called Redeem The Shadows here in Houston.   Went to a meeting at a local Christian School to talk about Human Trafficking and issue here in Houston.   Got our video up Bad Day: Human Trafficking in Houston which you can see on Vimeo, became a board member for an Anti-Trafficking NGO in the US, volunteered to mentor an underage minor at risk of HT...  the list goes on and on.   THE LIGHT JUST TOOK OFF AND TURNED INTO A FIRE.  It's been busy, busy, busy ever since.

Every little bit of work impacting this huge injustice of Trafficking, which I think of as a type of massive criminal cancer.  Every crime imaginable, that can be done to a person, is done to people everyday during the crime of enslaving people.  A real confluence of injustice.

So from February to July 2011, I've been doing a lot different anti-trafficking works...and have started to feel like a semi-automatic weapon.  Sometimes firing one shot after another, and sometimes just 1 shot at a time.

There was light....and then the light turned into fire.  Firing shots, and not just into the dark.

Don't ignore what is happening in your town everyday. Stop The Traffick's PSA

Checklists, Christmas and a Happy New Year

Opening note:  I thought I had posted this before the Christmas rush, but now realize it didn't make it up!  Still some good thoughts rolling around here...and am going to share them anyway!  I didn't get much accomplished in the fight against slavery before Christmas, but I'm still here to fight and that counts.

Before you start a journey it's a good idea to make a list.   A checklist.

It can be practical, like "pick up new suitcase for the trip" or it can be internal "think of new way to do things" or it can be completely silly... "go buy new jeans, 2 sizes too small in order to inspire diet".

My practical list is:   Buy spy camera for car and lapel, buy outfit that can disguise what I do for a job, get p.o. box, get unlisted and untrack-able phone, get business cards, organize files for surveillance, do more surveillance, organize office and get camera to shoot photos and videos for files."

My internal list is:  A lot more complicated and has to do with boundaries.

When you have a heart to help others, and a passion for a particular area of helping, it's easy to get sidetracked with the people in your life that need help at that very minute.  Kids, relatives, close friends.  It's a good thing to be there for them.  Lately, however, I have begun to weigh crisis by bad, worse, or really devastatingly horrible.  Devastatingly horrible would be Human Trafficking.  Honestly, I'm having a hard time with this right now.  You would think that Human Trafficking would be the easy numero uno!  However, other things nearer and with names tend to sound louder. 

Prioritizing needs.  It's a toughie and I know I'm not alone in this dilemma.

So, I thought, I'll just wait till after Christmas and then do some more work on the Anti-Human Trafficking part of my life.  And then, and then, I thought....

...what about those who wait for help and help does not arrive because people are taking a break for Christmas?  Some are chained, some are locked in, and all of them are slaves.  Some are only kids,  9 years old.

What will they be doing this Christmas?  Serving you at the Chinese restaurant?  Servicing some guy in a massage parlor?

So yeah, it's hard to know where to start, and it's important to be there for family and friends, but don't forget what Christmas is really all about.  A Savior who came to seek and save the lost.   He came not to be served, but to serve.

"For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” - Luke 2:11-12

To the girls waiting for rescue I want to say, and will someday say...I was thinking of you.  I didn't know how to find you, but I was thinking and praying for you on Christmas 2010.
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And so Christmas came and went, and then New Year and resolutions.  I resolved not to make any resolutions, as I still have an outstanding list from last year playing like a broken record in my brain.   However, this year there is something new that I resolve to do.  I resolve, with all my heart, to find a way to help at least just one person to escape from slavery this year, 2011.

When your name becomes a security issue

Today I had to delete a comment on my blog.  That made me sad.  I enjoy hearing back from people in the comment section.  However, it's a security issue when my name is mentioned.  Sad, but true.

I am Bee, or as some young girls have called me "Momma Bee" or "Auntie Bee".  That's who I am, deep in my heart, I am a mother to young people who like to call me "mom".  It's a privilege and a blessing to be a kind of surrogate Mom to others.  My own mother was lost to me when I was 18, and then she passed away when I was 26.  She had early onset advanced Altzheimers.  She didn't speak to me normally from the time I was 16, and she didn't remember me by the time I was 18.   That really hurt.  It's hard to describe, but looking back now I can see that there are blessings mixed in with difficulty.  My heart is really tender to young people who feel alone.  Some of them have their own mothers, but the communication isn't what it should be.  Some have wonderful mothers, who have no resources.  Some have no mothers at all.

It's fun to be a mom.  Unconditional love is all that's needed.  Encouragement, wisdom, words of advice, cooking a meal, sometimes a bed to sleep on and going shopping.  It's simple.  It's a way to give life.  A way to help someone who is new to being an adult.  A way for new adults to know they are not alone.

I had a surrogate/spiritual mom too.  She was wonderful for me.  She said a lot of really wise things.  One time she said to me, "We are all alone together".

So if you want to say my name, say Bee.  If you want to be a mom to someone today, feed them and take them shopping.  Spoil them.  Let them know that they are not alone.

And don't forget the girls/women/boys in forced labor.  They need an advocate who will be "alone together" with them.

When your heart breaks, you know you're alive.

It can be anything.  A hungry child in another country.  A dog starved in a puppy mill.  A pelican covered in oil from a slick.   Some pictures on the news just grab you and you feel the wound.  Your heart breaks.  Why?  I think it's because the heart was made to know and recognize injustice.  The One who made us, made our heart and taught the heart how to do that.  Isn't God marvelous?

When your heart breaks, you know you're alive.  Suddenly, you care about something other than yourself.  You want something that doesn't give back to you.  You want to stop the injustice.  You want satisfaction.

My heart doesn't break over puppies or pelicans.   For me it's always about human beings.  Precious human beings.  Made in the image of God himself.  There is a way.  God's way.  He sees what we can't.  He knows the paths people take who hurt others.  He has assigned His children that choose to follow Him as His deputies.  I'm ready for my assignment.

I know I'm alive and I want satisfaction.

the adventure tarries....and metaphors abound

When you step out, sometimes you have to step slowly.  While other times you must go quickly, and boldly.  I'm in a place where you step, and then seek guidance about the next step....stepping carefully so you don't put your foot wrong.

Sometimes you have to stop to get new glasses.  Cause you can't see too good if the ones you have are broken.

Always, looking and watching for the path.   There is a scripture in the Bible - the old testament that talks about "mining the treasures found in the darkness."  That's what I'm after, the big diamonds that you have to dig deep for, the ones where you might end up in a tiny crawl space, scraping the dirt out with only your own hands.  That's where you find the real good stuff.  Deep.  Down.  In the mine.  In the dark.  It's a good thing that you aren't really alone there.  There is that presence to guide you.  That Holy Spirit that welcomes the adventure.

So, I say to myself and you.  Dig deep.  Don't be afraid of the dark.  But be sure you put your foot in the right place, and wear glasses.  Grab the hand of the presence of God and go.

The Adventure Begins...

No one expects....Chubby Spy.

That's right.  Totally unexpected.  Who would think that a middle aged mother of grown kids would develop a passion and reinvent herself as an advocate for people who have been Trafficked for Commercial Sex or Forced labor?  I didn't think it.

I just had an epiphany, a moment, a very long moment really, at a women's conference.  To say that I cried my eyes out for 3 days would be the truest thing I could say of that weekend.  Then, going home to my husband, I sobbed at the dinner table when I told him that I couldn't sit around waiting for grandkids when there were girls, same age as my own daughter, caught, tricked, pretending, surviving, and praying for deliverance.


Looking at me, you'd think oh yeah middle aged woman, overweight, doesn't exercise; equals NO THREAT.  I too would have assumed that, looking at myself.  Yet, there is someone who sees me different.  Someone who sees me as wise, insightful, experienced, with great networks, and willing.  Someone I like to call my best friend, the one who sticks closer than family, my Lord, my God.  HE sees me as able, cause I can do anything He strengthens me to do.

And so the journey began......