Make a difference, NOT MY LIFE

Maybe you are like me, sometimes I just feel like I am going through life and not really making a difference at anything.  We can minister in our churches, or we do our jobs, raise our families, but sometimes if you are like me, you ask the question "Is this all there is?"

Recently, we went and saw a documentary on human trafficking, NOT MY LIFE.  Human trafficking is one of the greatest crimes against humanity and it is growing everyday.  In fact, they said they are only helping .001% of those who are caught up in human trafficking.  One woman involved in rescue efforts said that for every 10 girls they help on a given day,  20 more girls got caught up in human trafficking that same day.  Oklahoma has one of the largest human trafficking areas in the United States. 

Upon hearing that only .001% of those who are taken into human trafficking are rescued worldwide, I asked myself if it was really worth it.  But then I realized that if they only reach one woman, man, or child, at least they are making a difference to somebody.  If only one life was changed by being rescued from exploitation, it is worth everything they are doing. 

I was reminded of a story I read in Pastor Craig Groeschel's book WEIRD.  It is called Every Starfish Matters (page 214).   It goes like this… A young boy was frantically picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the ocean.  Now there were hundreds if not thousands of starfish all over the beach.  An older gentleman saw this you boy picking up the starfish and throwing them back into the ocean.  And said hey their youngster; you shouldn’t waste your time with the starfish.  There’s to many of them.  You’ll never make a difference.  Looking up at the old gentleman, the boy picked up a starfish and hurled it into the ocean.  And he said I made a difference to that one!  And he continued on with his mission.

That's what got me.  A story about starfish.  You will never make a difference until you believe in something.  The youngster in this story believed that his actions made a difference for the starfish.  The story says that he "continued on with his mission".  In the documentary, NOT MY LIFE, a man involved in rescue efforts in the United States said that the statistics did not discourage him.  ( .001% )  He stated that those numbers just gave him reason to work that much harder.  That there are more lives out there that can be reached, one at a time.  Just like the starfish.

Rescuing those enslaved by human trafficking may not be your calling.  I have come to realize that we can only do what we are called to do. And I am not called to do everything, but I am called to something. So, I just have to settle the issue that I can make a difference right where I am at, doing what God called me to do.
But I do know that everyone is called to something.  I just want to encourage you to find out what God wants you to do and do it with all your might.  Make a difference one life at a time.


Oklahomans Against Human Trafficking has upcoming fundraisers that you can be a part of. 
If you would like to know more about human trafficking you can contact Oklahomans Against Human Trafficking (OATH).    To find out more about NOT MY LIFE, visit http://notmylife.org/.