Limited Edition

My apologies for the delay.

I have come to learn that my vocab and God's vocab don't exactly mean the same. For all of my words, mine usually have quickness attached to the end. And it seems as if God's words have slow attached to the end. I only have in the neighborhood of 80 years here on this speck of dirt. God, well he made the place and everything that surrounds it, plus some. And speaking in the time sense, he is unlimited. In fact, he made the clock that measures time, and even time itself. So he is in no hurry. But looking back, his timing has always been the best.

The events leading up to me moving to Tampa happened quite fast. One right after the other. BAM BAM BAM. Pronto. So in moving here, I expected everything to follow suit. (haha)

My life previously had always been as follows: God would reveal something to me, I would struggle with it for a while (and even missed a few opportunities), then I would give in. And things would happen quickly after I surrendered. Over the past few months, I have been giving in to God more quickly, and it seems like I am waiting on things to happen (the human trafficking ministry for instance). But in the mean time, I am preparing for ministry (which I really hadn't done to begin with, and everything that works out must have preparation- which I am learning).

So if you are the prayin' type, pray that I would stop trying to analyze God and everything he tells me to, and that I would accept his ways.

So while I have been learning, preparing, and waiting, I have come to realize that we all are Limited Editions. We all are here for x# of years. We all have different skills and abilities that each other need. So lets make the most of time while we are here.

Just ask.

A few days ago I asked everyone to join me in praying for favor with a few organizations. Well, I met them in person a few hours ago. My pastor told me about a task force meeting (which I am a part of now), so I attended. I had no clue these two organizations were going to be there. So I put faces to names, and trying to get hooked up with them in various ways. (So I ask you to pray for me in this area). One organization is World Relief, the other I cannot name for security reasons.

I am reminded of Matt 7:7 which says to ask and you will receive. So I asked God, and also asked you to pray. And look at what God did! I met these people face to face, which is way better than over email because for all they knew, I could have been some creeper wanting to infiltrate them.

By the way, the task force I mentioned above is called Clearwater/Tampa Bay Area Task Force on Human Trafficking (DOJ).

Update

My first week here was challenging. I have never lived far enough from home that I couldn't always run home if something came up; but now I live 10 hours from my hometown, so I can't do that. I faced much spiritual warfare last week: from doubts about being here to worrying about income to friends and the list goes on and on and on. It was ruff but with God's help, I came through.

Concerning my mission here: I have joined the Human Trafficking Ministry at the church I am attending. The people on this team are awesome and have passion written all over them. I haven't met any of the victims (that I know of), but I do know that some attend my church. Our team relies on the police department. They have to investigate and all that other good ole police stuff. They know how many people they will arrest and how many victims there are to rescue; they are pretty precise. These things just take time, unfortunately. I wish we were going in guns a slinging, breaking down doors Chuck Norris style 24/7.

In the mean time, I am trying to reach out to other organizations. Pray that I will find favor with World Relief (the ladies will not email me back for anything. I have no clue why.) I have two others in mind that I cannot name, but pray that God will grant me favor with these also.

Thanks for all your prayers, thoughts, support, everything!!!

Everyone, Shared Hope International.

A few months ago when I went to Orlando, not having a clue what I would run into, I met the president of an organization called Shared Hope International. Meeting this lady was a really cool experience and God-thing for me because I first became interested in fighting against human trafficking when a friend told me about this particular organization. He told me a little about their organization and one of their success stories of rescuing a victim.

So me coming into contact with this lady (and sitting at her table) was a milestone for me. Please pray for them as they continue fighting for these girls. Here is a link to a book the organization released concerning minor sex trafficking:   http://www.sharedhope.org/Portals/0/Documents/SHI_National_Report_on_DMST_2009.pdf

On December 1, they will release the Protected Innocence Initiative, which is a, "comprehensive   legislative response to child sex trafficking in America." It will be a sort of report for all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C. concerning their efforts to end trafficking. It also reveal the laws, if any, which states have in effect concerning traffickers and their victims.

Heaven Come My Way

14 hours later, 3 traffic jams, 1 dead GPS (it died a hour and a half after I left, but lucky my resourcefulness and McDonald's wifi got me to my destination), 1 damaged cigarette lighter, and 1 time zone change, I made it to Largo, FL, yesterday. ---apparently something doesn't want me here??

The church I am helping at has a service on Friday night, so I went to it. There were around 125 in attendance with multiple services going on (big church, Hispanic church, kid's service). Every single person on campus was happy and life was radiating out of each. I was and still puzzled by this occurrence, for I can count on one hand the church services I have been to in which this occurrence has happened (and my hometown leads the nation per capita with the most churches in the nation).

Anyway, in the past few weeks, my team has helped to rescue 50 victims from the trafficking industry. Pretty awesome, and pretty excited to join in with them!

Prayers are appreciated!

Chapter One, page 1

This dream started in the summer of 2010. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, I just knew it was something God ordained and that I was not going to settle for less.

Last summer, I began attending Refuge Church of Laurel, MS. While there, I was the Small Group pastor. The senior pastor (this is your SHOUT OUT) and I would discuss how and where the group was going (we were hoping for more but for whatever reason, only one stuck). Through these talks we became much better friends, and today I consider him to be one of my spiritual mentors. So for much of the past year, he has helped me discern this dream as well as help me with other struggles. It was only fitting that when I received the call a few days ago to begin this dream, I was with him.

Now for the In Between story:

On July 4, 2011, I went with the leadership team of Agape Church to Pearl, MS, to see the MS Braves play ball. Wasn't much of a game at all (the other team forgot to show up, Braves won 10-0), so a friend and I began to talk about life. He mentioned an anti-human trafficking agency that is located in Washington, D.C. and went into a few details about how they work. I thought that was so awesome, but it did not affect me at all so I tucked it away in the back of my mind and forgot about it.

Weeks later, for whatever reason(s) I lost my job. Another close friend of mine suggested that I write down different careers that interest me and that when we met again, we would go over them (still waiting to talk about them all with you!).  When I had written down 6 different options, I sat back and considered them and what it would take to achieve them. BORING!!! These options looked nice and shiny, but I knew that one day they would begin to rust. Then, when I was brought back to the place of failure, I remembered the story my friend had mentioned to me at the Braves game.


Right then, this dream was manifested to me: Go rescue victims of human trafficking. AWESOME!!!


So my journey began.

I randomly went to Florida one week not having any direction where to go. I stayed with friends in Cocoa Beach. Went to Orlando on Tuesday of that week hoping to run into someone or something. A friend and I were driving along and off in the distance I saw this billboard glowing radiantly with arrows pointing to it saying "Jacob, this is for you." Not really. But the billboard did advertise a conference on human trafficking that was going on the three days that we would be in Florida. A coincidence?? I think not. But you know what I did? I ignored it. (Only I would go to God knows where and see the perfect sign and ignore it) But God being who He is and knowing what He knows, knew I would ignore it so He put another advertising the conference 10 minutes down the road. I still wasn't convinced. I thought, "Let's go to it and see what happens, but it probably sold out." We went. What was supposed to cost us $230 only cost us $100. How does this happen?

At that conference were many people from all over the country, whom were very passionate about obliterating the human trafficking industry. I learned soooo much. In fact, within the first few hours of the conference, my head was hurting with everything I learned.

While there, I got connected with a ministry that helps out victims of trafficking, homelessness, addiction, etc. Within the next few days, I will be moving to Florida to continue my journey fighting injustice. I hope that one day many of you will be able to join me in the fight. In the mean time, however, I pray you start your own journey. Wherever you are, stop injustice, bring life back to dead cities, help the helpless, etc. I hope and pray you get involved doing something, somewhere.