Day 1: 27 million

Day 1: Encouraged; uplifted; tempted by takeway menu through the letterbox; smiling inwardly at my power to resist; still slightly hungry.

Now, more than ever, I'm convinced of the power of prayer.   This morning at church we met together for our owb rice and beans lunch, and we just had a good ol' family time, everyone mucked in, we had a laugh about what it would be like in our homes eating rice and beans for 5 days. And we prayed, because as Mark Melluish said, sometimes praying is the only thing you can do.

We were also reminded about another aspect of poverty.  London is gearing up to get ready for being the stage of the world and for a few short weeks, people will visit to see the greatest athletes and events.  But behind the scenes, money is changing hands to traffik women and children into the UK, in time for the Olympics.  Back in Lord Wilberforce's day, there were about 11 million slaves. That was 200 years ago.  Today, there are 27 million slaves. Slavery is alive. It's ugly, it's hidden, it's wrong.  It's the result of poverty, it's the result of people not having enough and wanting a better life for their children. It's the result of not having a choice.  Not having a voice to speak up for what's right.

Now is the time to do something about that.

Here's one thing you can do.  Let's make a noise about modern day slavery. We need to tell politicians to do something, and the media, and businesses. And to let people know that this needs to stop, we need to get everyone involved.  One of the ways you can do that is by downloading this song from itunes/Amazon/Play. Don't do it until Monday or it won't count in the charts.

 

Father God, tonight I want to cry out for the millions of people who are held captive, enslaved, forced into a trade that is harmful and soul destroying.  Lord, would you help me use whatever I have to make a difference where I am.  I want to pray for the families who are left behind. I want to pray that they realise they do have  choice.  I pray that they would choose life.  Amen.

For more on the anti-traffik campaign, go to www.notforsalecampaign.org.