I’m truly not sure what I’ve gotten myself into. I haven’t owned a bike since middle school, still consider a one-mile walk a cardio workout, am pretty afraid of camping, and have never stepped foot in California. Yet for some reason I committed to bike 1,700 miles down the West Coast this summer. Pedal the Pacific truly is the craziest thing I’ve ever said yes to- but I believe with my whole heart that every workout, every dollar raised, every conversation had, even every fall from my bike will be worth it for the impact that is possible when The Refuge will open its doors.
I was in middle school when I first heard that slavery was not just confined to history books, but that it is a current and growing problem in our world.
In our country.
In our state.
In our city.
On our streets.
Sex trafficking is a reality that far too many girls are confronted with. The knowledge that there are people at this very moment who are being forced to do unspeakable things against their will makes me sick. Maybe it’s the fact that it could so easily be me in their shoes, but ever since I heard a survivor share her story for the first time, I felt a table-turning kind of anger that made me want to do something big.
As we often do, though, I believed the lie that I wasn’t big or bold or powerful enough to make a dent in the problem that is bigger and more twisted than I could ever imagine. I couldn’t begin to wrap my mind around how it could be true that there are something like 30 million people enslaved in the world today, much less that I could be a person to do something about it.
Recently I had this thought that maybe when Jesus said he would be the one to pay the ultimate price for every single one of us, he really did mean it. That maybe the price he paid should mean that no other price should ever be paid for anyone again. This truth spoke infinitely louder to me than the lies I believed about my own inadequacies and I decided it might just be time to start living like I really do believe it.
So I’m hopping on a bike this summer. I’m letting my own two legs bring me all the way down the west coast just so that I can continue to have conversations and shine light into dark places and make people aware of the truth that can crush all the lies that try so hard to hold each of us back from doing big work.
My body might be weak but my mind is so sure- I’m doing the dang thing!! For the girls who can’t speak for themselves and for all the healing that is possible on this side of heaven!!
