Atlanta – The Child Sex Trafficking Capital of America
About ten years ago I began to become aware of the human trafficking issues of our day that not only include sex, but chocolate, tea, coffee, and even rubber. Even then statistics indicated that Atlanta was a hot-bed for human trafficking. I’ve now become even more aware of the sexual trafficking of children in my own community. Sadly, it often is one’s own parent that pimp’s their child.
Child sex trafficking is not a new thing, but only within the last decade has there been an uncorking of the bottle in regards to the information we have about it. While, in the past, I may only have agreed with Ashley on the choice of her favorite basketball team I can honestly say that I believe we completely agree on the evil that possesses those who misuse children and women for their sexual satisfaction.
After watching this clip you may not only want to stay away from Atlanta, but you may want to pay closer attention to your children in airports.
If you want to do something about it, then I suggest looking into supporting www.IJM.com.
Making Peace – A Sermon, a Site and a Playground
Many expressed an interest in being able to share the “Blessed Are the Peacemakers” sermon with someone. Since switching to the new video camera we are having to take more time converting video to an online format until we get a few more pieces of equipment to make it more seamless. So, after a lot of hard work by Jason Dickerson you can view it here.
I also wanted to point you to www.POTSC.com who are sharing some things they learned on “Fighting Well.” Having “good fights” enable us to make peace.
Lastly, I wanted to toot the horn of a great company. Ten yeas ago Kristi and I invested in a playground for our three children. We went on a 10 year Anniversary trip to Maine. We drove from Bar Harbor down to Portland on our return and we just happened to pass Cedar Works. They had some amazing playground sets and while they happened to be closed we walked around the grounds and looked in the windows and fell in love with them. Their customer service is top notch, and it was actually fun putting it together. What we didn’t expect is that the playground set was a huge bonus when it came time to sell that house and move to where we are now.
Fast forward 10 years and here we are a family of six. And three of those six LOVE to swing. Every time we pass a playground or a swing set we hear a chorus of “SWING! SWING! SWING!” from the back seats. We called the family who bought our last house to see if they would be interested in selling us the set. To our disappointment their kids still play on it every day and so it was a resounding, “No way! Are you kidding!” So, we priced other playground sets. There were cheaper sets, there were even cheaper cedar sets, but we knew if we wanted to get something that lasted we’d need to get a Cedar Works set. Thankfully the company has continued to grow, pays a living wage, and is involved in reforestation, and to top it all off now they have some more affordable playground sets! They also do some cool indoor stuff. So, by next weekend, I hope to be putting together our second Cedar Works playground set! If you are shopping for one I promise you won’t be disappointed with the product.
