Justice & the Arts

Well, we had a great weekend with Cindy and a group of her students from the "Justice and the Arts" DTS (discipleship training school.) They drove down from Pismo Beach on Friday night and that evening they hosted an 1828 event for the college and career group at the church. We talked about different justice issues like child soldiers, genocide, and human trafficking and they discussed how they use art as a tool for advocacy for these issues. Then they pulled out the paint, crayons, pastels, paper and canvases and we let loose our creative sides! It was really awesome and this right here is what I came up with...

On Sunday morning at church Cindy talked about God's heart for justice. She also shared about her burden for human trafficking. Women and children are recruited using coercion, deception, fraud, the abuse of power, or outright abduction and then forced into prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation. Due to the fact that a human life can be sold again and again it is on it’s way to becoming the number one most profitable industry in organized crime. Cindy did a great job and it was very sobering and eye-opening. You can find out more about human trafficking at this website.

She also showed a Nooma video by Rob Bell called "Store" (you can see a clip of it here) I have seen a couple nooma dvds and this one just might be my favorite. It mentioned something that I really like. Often times when we are thinking about what we want to do with our life, our purpose, our calling... we ask ourselves, "What makes me happy, what do I love to do?" But we can ask another question as well, "What makes me angry? What problem or issue really upsets me?" When we discover that, we can find where our passion lies. Anyways, he explains it better but I thought that it was a brilliant thought.

I think for myself I really get angry when people portray God as something so heavy and burdensome. It frustrates me when people take all the freedom and grace out of what Christ has done for us and instead they add stiff regulations and inflexible laws. It makes me upset when there are loads put on people that were never meant to be there. 

Colossians 2:9 says, " In Christ you have been brought to fullness." The message is not about what you have to do to earn God's favor or beating you up for what you have or haven't done but rather it is an announcement of things that have already been done on our behalf. This is my passion, announcing and bringing awareness that we are loved simply because we are. Our worth has already been established in the eyes of God. 

Anyways, it was great having Cindy and her group here. They will be taking off to Cambodia and the Philippines in about two weeks and we wish them the best! Thanks for coming guys!