the hopes and fears of all the years

i'm sharing this article because i live such a comfortable, insulated life, and unless i make intentional efforts, i'll be blind to the reality - this kind of living hell - that the majority of the world's population can't afford to ignore.

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2013/12/world/cambodia-child-sex-trade/?sr=sharebar_facebook

i'm also sharing this because i believe that i know Who is the answer. only Jesus has the capability and the willingness to heal and redeem not only the girls who are exploited and abused, but also the parents who sell their children, the "sex tourists" whose perverse desires created the demand for this industry in the first place, the traffickers who deal in human life and have almost single-handedly destroyed the lives of who-knows-how-many children, the corrupted government officials who turn a blind eye and refuse to deal out justice...and us, as we read this article and instinctively despise the ones who are to blame for the whole mess. of course, hatred is a perfectly good reaction to this kind of wickedness, but do i loathe the sin in my own heart as much as i loathe what i see in the world outside of me?

photography by Jeremie Montessuis of CNN

sometimes i wonder how happiness and beauty - the very things that are so tragically missing from these exploited children's sad lives - how does it relate to the brokenness and unspeakable depravity and seeming hopelessness that flood over me when i'm willing to open my eyes to it? more specifically for the season we are in now, how does the jollity and celebration of christmas relate to what we read in this article?

maybe the "christmas spirit" isn't about shielding ourselves from anything negative, dirty, or unhappy that may potentially disturb our happiness as we decorate and shop for gifts...maybe it's having our eyes wide open to the mess and pain and sorrow and still daring to hope that the Christ whose birth we are celebrating really is the One who "makes death itself work backwards," and "who comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found."

so read the article, and let yourself feel the gravity of the tragedy, but don't despair.

"o little town of bethlehem,

how still we see thee lie.

above thy deep and dreamless sleep,

the silent stars go by.

yet in thy dark streets shineth

the Everlasting Light.

the hopes and fears of all the years

are met in thee tonight."