My husband says I’m the writer of the family, and that he’d rather just stick to the speaking-bit.
And maybe he’s right. Because he rarely writes but every time he speaks publicly he brings people to cry tears or draw swords.
The man seeps inspirational leadership.
And these last two years, I’ve seen him endure things I never would have imagined when we stood on my parent’s back deck for senior prom pictures 17 years ago. During our time in SE Asia, I watched him hot glue a covert camera into a computer bag when we were starting out in investigations — so completely out of our league. I’ve seen him with tears in a corner because of the girls he’s left behind, and I’ve heard him talk-fearful when it was the real-live mafia on the radar. I’ve had a front-row seat to late nights where he dragged his feet out the door from nothing but determined obedience,
and I’ve heard him talk about our own girls and how we have to figure this out.
But last night, in a hotel room in India, he did write something. He had just returned from a night of undercover surveillance with a team of national investigators we at The Exodus Road will be honored to support in the near future, and I’ll admit, the evening left him shaken. He’s been in over 300 brothels in Asia, but India was a new level of hard for him. A 15-year-old virgin was for sale, and she sat right next to him– the only Westerner in the bar. There were two other virgins in the same grim-ridden place, along with many other young women– all with stories the rest of us would rather not really think about.
And this man who has literally become the most courageous one I know, he sat down and he wrote the following. . .
- Matt Parker Jan. 24, 2013 Executive Director, The Exodus Road matt@theexodusroad.com****
Victims of human trafficking are not lost forever, unless the very last one of us gives up.
And till the day they are free, I choose to hope and set my eyes on the horizon. There I see freedom coming– freedom for victims of human trafficking and freedom for me as I seek it for them. Freedom is the very aroma of God and love is his firm step. I have never known joy as I know it today, as I too take up the smell and step of God. Justice is the mix of these two elements, freedom and love. When both are present, the Kingdom of God is realized.
Last night I witnessed the slavery of over two hundred women. On my left sat a young virgin and on my right a young girl maybe twenty years old. Both for sale. All for sale. And I wanted this justice fueled by love for them so very badly.
This work that we are doing is a powerful thing in my own life. It stretches beyond my comfort, calls me to be courageous in the face of fear, costs me greatly and has shown me the face of God in ways that have surprised me.
Many people claim to know God. If the work of rescue has taught me anything, it is that I know very little about God and am a fool to claim that I do. I now believe that he is so much bigger than I will ever comprehend and his love, justice and mercy are equally unfathomable.
This is a big story, after all, that we are living. A story of impossible odds, brokenness and courage, passion and justice. It is the best story I have ever read, and I still do not know how it will end.
I am forever changed, and we are only at the beginning.
Perhaps he’s more of a writer than he thinks.
******
A Follow-Up. And those virgins in India? The national investigators diligently went back two nights after Matt visited to capture the necessary evidence needed by local police for the girls’ rescue. The four member investigative team shares one piece of lower-quality surveillance gear. Unfortunately, the camera battery died during the investigation and no evidence was effectively captured.
Pray for funds to provide this team with quality gear (read here about why this is so important) and pray for these three precious teenagers as they wait for rescue.
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