Injustice sucks.

Wow, this whole regular blog post thing has failed! But little did I know before, the life of a DTS Staff is chaotic! My life is great, don’t get me wrong, and I truly do love it...but it is SO busy! But today, I want to share something that hit me square between the eyes.

Every week we have an hour of intercession with the whole base. So DTS staff & students, administration, staff from every other ministry and what ever random people may be on the base that moment. Today my good friend (and boss...I guess) Moise led. And it was a time of pain and tears for me. 

He shared about child soldiers in Uganda & Sudan. He showed a short part of Invisible Children. I have known of this horror for some time and whenever I think of it or hear of it, pain, tears, confusing and much anger rise to the surface. But today...today was somehow different. In this video they mentioned certain places, Gulu & Kitgum (in Northern Uganda) and the Acholi People (in South Sudan). I heard those words and felt a lump in my throat. It was one of those cliche moments when every other sound stopped, the whole world stopped. It was just me and the kids there on the screen. I knew this went on in that general area, but hearing those names hit home. 

Later the same day, I was praying about what to do for intercession (I lead for our students on tuesday & fridays) that week. And I heard this voice that said “Keep talking about the injustice towards my babies”. So heading this voice, I grabbed my computer, a note book, a pen and headed to trusty google. What I found was heart breaking. I decided to do an time of prayer for child brides. In the top 20 countries (where this is most prevalent) over half are in Africa. South Sudan is #5. In the developing world (much of Africa, South East Asia, Middle East), 1 in every 3 girls are married by their 18th birthday. 1 in every 9 girls are married before thier 15th birthday. This girls are given in marriage by their parents. These nations have the believe that girls are more of a burden than a blessing. So, in order to feed the rest of their family, they “sell” their girls for the price of the dowry. This girls have no to little say. Sometimes they marry total strangers or maybe it’s an uncle or a grandpa or other family friend. Their husband maybe 20 years old (so maybe 10-15 years older) or maybe he’s like 50. Maybe they, on a rare ocassion, can learn to love thier husband and are happy. But most likely...not. Most likely these girls will be raped by their husbands, they may (very likely) be physically or verbally abused. This girls are now very vulnerable to HIV/AIDs, other std’s and other health issues that come from being married (and all that entails) at such a young age. 

After I looked at the facts and read some stories (heart breaking, tear inducing - the kind of stories that bring my anger out), I asked myself why. Sometimes, I wonder why people could think this is a good idea. I wonder how people can be totally fine with letting their 10 year old marry a 40yr old that will raper her every night and beat her every day. I wonder how men can be ok with teaching children how to kill. I wonder why no one has stopped this. 

I am well aware of the size of both (child soldiers & child brides) of these issues. They are MASSIVE! But I find myself on my knees in tears over both of these, and the countless other injustices against children (...and then the list just keeps growing when you add up the injustice against women and men and families...). And while I pray and plead with God to end this all...I wonder where the church is in all of this. 

God bring your body to our knees until we are so broken! Until we are so broken over this issue that we move to do something. Keep it in our minds. When we close our eyes, let it stare back at us. Move your body to action!