This isn’t really Israel related, more some personal thoughts which I know I don’t normally post on my blog but felt like sharing tonight...I just watched the movie Blood Diamond, maybe some of you have seen it? Besides the fact that it is super intense (definitely not for kids) and really heart breaking, it reminded me of all that I want to do with my life. The movie takes place in Sierra Leon where there was/is a great amount of diamonds mined and harvested at the expense of peoples lives. The movie follows several people: a man forced into the slavery of searching for diamonds, a little boy- brainwashed, forced to kill, and turned into a child solider, and a family- ripped apart by the corruption of the country- becoming simply one more name in the refugee camps. It would have felt a lot better if I could have told myself in all the intense, heart breaking scenes that this was just a movie, but I couldn’t lie. In fact, I did just the opposite throughout those two long hours. I kept saying to myself, "You know this is real! You’ve at least gotten a taste of the poverty and orphans and corruption when you went to Africa before. You’ve read so many books on the slavery that is going on in the world, yet there is so much more evil and wrong happening behind closed doors and in the middle of the jungles that you don’t have a clue about. What are you, Naomi, going to do about all this? What does God want you to do" That’s what I've been talking to God about tonight...
It’s hard having to leave the Middle East in a month and go back to studying full time in the US when all I really want is to go out and help people, impact their lives, and give them true, life changing hope. I know that can be done wherever you are, but my heart is with these broken, abandoned, brutalized, hurting slaves. I really really really want to make a difference in this world, and more specifically, among the refuge camps and the slaves. I do not want be tied down by money, status, or other complications a life of luxury in America throws my way.
Either I’m supposed to be learning patience and faithfulness right now, at this place in my life, or...there is something else I haven’t figure out yet.
Ok, well these are a few of my many thoughts of tonight, but I would love to encourage you all to research and discover a bit more about the slave trade going on in the world today. Thought it is hard to know, UNICEF estimates conservatively that there are 300,000 child soldiers in the world right now. And on a larger scale, statistics estimate that there are 27,000,000 total slaves in our world today. These are big, overwhelming numbers- but I have to keep reminding myself that behind each of those numbers is a face, a story, and a person that needs to know true love.
Well I’m off to bed, but I love you family and friends, and thanks for reading about the people who are on my heart. Oh, and one last thing: just for the record, when any of you decides to purchase a diamond, please, please tell your jeweler that you will only buy certified "conflict free diamonds." Diamonds may be "forever", but life is worth so much more...
Well I’m off to bed, but I love you family and friends, and thanks for reading about the people who are on my heart. Oh, and one last thing: just for the record, when any of you decides to purchase a diamond, please, please tell your jeweler that you will only buy certified "conflict free diamonds." Diamonds may be "forever", but life is worth so much more...
