On Art, Language, and God: A Conversation with Nathan Bennett Adams (Part 1)

So far in the Conversations series here on An Iris Awaits, we’ve looked at the topics of mission, Bible word studies, ethics, and human trafficking. Today, I’m excited to delve into another group of topics that might not seem all that related at first until you really start thinking about it—which is exactly what a conversation with Nathan Bennett Adams will help you do.

I met Nate in college when we took a class together that involved meeting weekly in our professor’s home (Matt Benson’s, actually, who was featured in the first Conversations post) and traveling to study at L’Abri in England over spring break (when the below photo of us was taken). Nate’s enthusiasm, intellect, and spoken word poetry inspired me during that time to consider things in different ways and to actually express the excitement I felt about the things of God. After college, Nate continued sharing his poetry and speaking about language in venues such as TEDx. He married Anna, another graduate of our school, and together they moved to Italy to serve at Saints Bible Institute for a couple of years before moving back to Tennessee. Nate has spent the last several years honing his talents in the visual arts, and one of his commissioned pieces is featured in the header of this very blog!

A few weeks ago, Nate and I had a chance to catch up over the phone. As an athlete, poet, and artist, Nate brings a unique perspective to the table, and I welcome you to listen in on our conversation regarding language, art, God’s character, and how we relate to Him. Unlike previous Conversations posts, where the conversation has happened through writing, this post is an edited transcription of a vocal conversation.

Olivia: Okay, so first off, how did you become interested in spoken word and visual art?  

Nathan:  It starts at my salvation for me. So I was saved later in life, like 21/22 when it happened. Yahweh pulled me out of a lot of muck, a lot of gross and . . . not-life. He pulled me from death to life. And what ties very closely to my desire for poetry—and then spoken word—is my learning disability.

So I was diagnosed with a learning disability at a very early age, and schooling, all things learning, all things reading and memorizing and spelling . . . all intellectually learning was just brutally difficult. And I just kind of separated, and I was an athlete, and I was a very good one, so I was like, “There’s something I could invest my energy into” and that was soccer, right? Sports came very easy to me. I enjoyed them; I enjoyed the very acute trial and error, risk and reward, and then the quick learning that happens in sports.

So this whole trial-and-error-system, gets-saved, strong-athlete side of me, and then God shows me that thinking about Him is like the basis—not just thinking about Him intellectually, like stroking your beard with a pipe in the corner (there’s room for that), but I think there is this space that I had a reason to then think hard. I had a reason to philosophize. I had a reason to think about, “Oh my gosh, all things are connected?!—to Yahweh?! Like there’s a source to all of this? And that just got me boosted! I just had a reason to study now. I had a reason to think or consider things.

It all started with theological stuff and slowly started spreading in some of my own personal history, so I saw how much—I never read a book! Like, Olivia, I read what I needed to, but then when Yahweh took over, I saw things worthy of learning; I’m learning about His world. That’s a completely different paradigm.

And I just started getting excited about words, and then one day I think I was going through some YouTube videos, and I came across spoken word. And I’ve always liked hip-hop, so this is like another connecting piece to spoken word. Yeah, hip-hop has always been fascinating to me. Even rhyme, right, that someone like Shakespeare writes a play; it’s in rhythm; there’s a cadence to it; there’s a story being told, and we’re getting the rhythm. It’s not much communication of like, “Hey pay attention, I’m gonna explain something to you: there’s a thing called rhyme, and it’s coming.” You don’t have to do that; we get it. And that’s really cool.

And my dad was the first one to encourage me to start writing poetry, and it was because I showed him a spoken word piece that was connected to a girl’s testimony. And my dad just said, “You should write your story.” And then the first poem I ever wrote was an extremely long—oh my gosh it needed editing!—but a poem, it was a spoken word piece that I just wrote my whole story. And hanging out with me, if you ever catch me around a fire or a 1-on-1, I wanna be authentic and genuine and real, so my first story was pretty raw. That started there. Spoken word and poetry was probably my first pursuit in these two art forms.

And drawing was always around. I drew occasionally because my dad was a landscape architect. I liked being creative, and again, remember, the intellect world was not what I passed my time with. So drawing occasionally, sports for sure. Drawing was kind of around, it just kinda just stayed around, but I never took it seriously. I was decent, but I never studied it. I only took three classes my whole life, one in middle school, one in high school, one in college, and they’re all basically Intro to Drawing. It wasn’t really serious. And then, segue. . . 

Italy was probably when I started taking drawing really seriously, and it’s when I saw the street artists—their use of color, the looseness. It wasn’t tight. And when I say tight, I’ll define that real quick: I think sometimes we have the perception that drawings need to be a real illustration of reality, and what that’s called is photorealism. And I think there’s a real significant conversation that needs to happen around that topic, because most people say, “I can’t draw,” and they’re thinking about photorealism. I’ve had a couple times when I taught, people would ask, “Hey, I just don’t like my drawing…” So then, I’m noticing that there’s something that’s pretty rhythmic about people and drawing and how they relate to it. And it’s like, “It doesn’t look good. I don’t like it. It doesn’t look like…it. It doesn’t look like it.”

And I kept on observing and read a couple books, and the more and more I kept the sketch books, I started noticing that an artist who’s doing a visual work—you’re supposed to replicate reality, not like bring it out of reality and put it back on a piece of paper. So you’re supposed to just replicate it; you’re supposed to be similar to it; you’re not creating reality.  And I think that’s a really big philosophical change, ‘cause then your drawings, if you’ve seen some of mine, there are times when like a one-line drawing exercise is really handsome. It looks really good. And why? Because you get it as the audience, I get it as the drawer/renderer, it communicates successfully. And I’m like, wow, why is that sometimes more successful than someone who tries their best to do an apple as real as possible, and then everyone steps back, and they’re like, “This looks like garbage,” or “I don’t like it,” or “It doesn’t look good.”

So that got me excited philosophically, that I think the artist’s role, one of their roles, is to replicate reality, to address looking upon reality. And it doesn’t need to be photorealism, because you’re dealing with perfection at that point. And a lot of artists talk about this, but people talk about this too, so I’m like, “wow, there’s a lot of cross-over here”: to pursue to be perfect is an endless goal, it’s gonna be only a dud. And we all understand that philosophically, but when someone gets to a piece of paper, and they draw it, they actually see the conflict of it a lot. So.

Drawing started in Italy, and I just started keeping a sketchbook, and right around that time, there’s a whole bunch of materials on YouTube I found and then two books I found that emphasize this point: Loosen up. And then I studied a lot that a lot of greats did these one-line exercises. Put it down. Render it quick. Give yourself 30 seconds. And then I saw some of these street artists again, so it was kinda like a lot of dominos happened that encouraged me, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, that’s right, I did want to be a landscape architect!” So I just sketched a lot of buildings and studied urban sketching.

So Italy was primitive for that block in drawing and illustrating, and then poetry, spoken word—that was really serious, I mean I thought I was gonna be a traveling speaker, which I kind of did. I did that after my TEDx. A lot of people asked me to start (universities) guest lecturing, and then Italy happened, so kinda all put that on pause, but yeah, that’s a full answer to how that started.

Olivia: Yeah. That’s so cool. All right, so what does creating art, whether through words or visuals, teach you about God as Creator? Or, what things about Him does creating art help you reflect on? 

Nathan: I think I would start off by saying that this is a question that all humans should wrestle with. Because if we are all creative, and this is something I’ve had to learn how to defend because people sometimes can get very stubborn of like, “I’m not creative.” And what they’re trying to say semantically is, “I’m not an artist,” and if they’re wanting to make that distinction, that’s fine. But to say that they’re not creative is to deny a very core [part of their humanity]. In their semantics they’re not doing a good job of identifying it—but every human is creative. Every human is creative.

And it’s funny, because even when I say that, I’ve had people who are like “Mmm…?” ‘cause then they’re doing the artist thing, they’re doing the replication, [and thinking] “I’m not an artist.” And I’m like, “If you got dressed today, you put together some color combinations however you wanted to, but you put them together. If you made cereal, if you put toast in . . . there’s things in which you’re deducing, you’re grabbing materials, and you’re making something. That is what a creative person does—grabs materials that already exist, receives them or forms them into something. I’m like, “That’s creative.” That’s a very basic premise.

So, yeah, the creativeness of what this declares about Yahweh, man . . . it’s vast. I think that’s my first inclination, is that within His infinite mind . . . and it’s good, right. It’s that big and wide, when He goes to create it’s within His right to have a lot of details and intricacies. And let me give you an example. I’ve recently been blown away by this. I’ve been like freakin’ out. So I’m doing a little garden here. We have pots; this is a cute little apartment, we have a little balcony. And one thing I’ve been shocked by, and impressed, and it’s led me to meditate and ponder more is how colors within our natural world start with green a lot of the times. It starts at green, then it blossoms to a color.

And that’s been fascinating to me, because green kind of gets a poo-pooed posture. People are like, “Yeah, I mean green’s like, whatever. It’s cute; it’s good for balance.” And I’m like, yeah, that’s true; that’s all true. But do all colors—earth’s colors—start at green?  Does it kinda spread off from there? That is very true in vegetables. A tomato starts green and then it can head towards a yellow, which is like a cherry, grape tomato. Jalapenos, same thing. Starts at green, and if you leave it longer on the stem, it will go to a purple, and then sometimes to a red. So I’m kinda freaking out, like God is hilarious—so creative.

To be continued…

In Part 2, we’ll keep discussing what art teaches us about God and ourselves. To follow Nathan on his artistic journey, find him on Instagram @nathan.b.adams

Christians and the Vote: 2020 Edition

Four years ago I wrote the following post in the weeks leading up to the presidential election. Since the question of how Christians should be involved in civic activities, such as voting, is always a topic in need of consideration, I decided to repost this entry with a few contextual edits for this election cycle.

As with last election season, there seem to be two poles of perspective among those who claim the name of Christ: one that emphasizes our American citizenship and one that emphasizes our citizenship in the Kingdom of God. Yet focusing on only one of these aspects of our identity fails to address the complexity of our reality.

We are Christians, yes. And as Christians, our primary allegiance is to Christ and to His Kingdom. There’s an interesting complexity to His Kingdom, though, in that it is in an “already/not yet” state of being. In other words, His Kingdom has arrived, and we believers are currently part of it, but it has not yet reached its completeness. Because of the “not yet” aspect of His Kingdom, earthly “kingdoms” still exist, and every human is a part of one—even Christians. 

As Christians who believe in the sovereignty of God, we believe that God ordained when and where we would live, what family we would be born into, and what earthly “kingdom” we would be a part of. So for those of us who are citizens of the United States, we are that (and are not citizens of another country) because God has placed us in this particular context at this particular time in history. The same can be said for all people no matter what country they are a part of. So we are Christians who happen (by God’s plan) also to be Americans during our time on this earth. That is who we are.

Here’s where I can see the first wave of objections rising: “If our allegiance is to Christ, then what should it matter what country we are a part of? Shouldn’t we only be concerned about matters of His Kingdom? Our identity is rooted in Christ; should we even recognize “American” as part of our identity?"  

Remember that Christ did not save us in a vacuum. And He did not whisk us straight to heaven when He saved us. He left us here in our specific context to live out our salvation (not to earn it, but to demonstrate it). God does not negate our earthly life when He brings us into His kingdom; He redeems it.

Let me ask—what if we framed the above objections in reference to our families? After all, as Christians we are children of God, right? Right. “So if He is our Father, what should it matter what earthly family we are a part of? Shouldn’t we only be concerned about matters of His Family?” [The answer to that rhetorical question is no.]

I hope this makes it a little clearer to see that God does not absolve us of our earthly responsibilities when he brings us into His kingdom. We are still the children of our parents and the parents of our children; we are still to honor and take care of our earthly family. Similarly, being a Christian informs our citizenship, but it does not absolve us of our civic duty. We are still citizens of the United States; we are still to honor those in authority over us, to pay our taxes, and—to vote.

And here we reach the controversial topic: voting as a Christian. I’ve attempted to establish thus far why I believe Christians should vote. The question then follows—yes, but how are we to vote?

I think it is helpful to look to Jeremiah’s letter to the Jewish exiles in Babylon for an applicable principle. The Jews are living in an earthly kingdom that is not the nation God established for His own chosen people; they are living in the pagan Babylon that does not recognize God’s authority. The prophet Jeremiah, still in Jerusalem, writes to the exiles and relates to them God’s command to settle in to their current location and to invest in their current community (Jeremiah 29:4-6).

Then God tells the Jews, “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7, ESV). Note that He didn’t tell them to try to get other Jews in leadership positions in the royal government. Nor did He call them to isolate themselves from the community or to bemoan the fact that their Babylonian political leaders were not honoring God. He simply called them to seek the welfare of their city and to pray for it.

Today, as Christians who are Americans, we are God’s chosen people who are living in an earthly country that is not the kingdom God established for His Church. (For more on the “Christian nation” mentality, see my previous post on providentialism.) Because America is not equivalent to the Church, there are different standards the leaders of each must meet. For leaders of the Church (e.g. pastors and deacons), we look to Scripture to see the necessary qualifications.

But America is not the Church. Just as we would not expect or require unbelievers to live according to the standards of God’s Word to which we hold believers, so we should not expect or require the leaders of the United States to meet the qualifications of leaders of the Church. This means, among other things, that a person does not have to be a Christian to be worthy of our vote.

Some might argue that this is compartmentalizing our faith from the rest of our life, and I agree that compartmentalizing our faith is wrong. But there is a difference between compartmentalizing and making a distinction. I am not suggesting we wall off our duties as a citizen from our Christian convictions. Our Christianity should inform our decision-making in every aspect of life. But what I am suggesting is that we can and should make a distinction between the requirements we hold for leaders and members of the Church and those we hold for leaders in the earthly country called the United States.

Yes, it would be awesome if we had leaders who had been saved by Jesus Christ and who actively sought to honor Him in all that they do. But there is such a thing as common grace, i.e. God has graciously equipped people who are not His children with talents and success and some degree of wisdom. Because of this grace, it is possible for an unregenerate person to make good decisions and to lead well.

Also, it’s important to keep in mind that sometimes there may not be any Christian candidates. Now, here, I know some would argue that we should write-in someone who is a believer or who at least is “morally upright,” but I would reiterate that being a Christian is not a qualification for holding elected office in the United States—and would add that neither is being “morally upright.”

“Man, she’s really going off the deep end now. How can you honor Christ and vote for someone who isn’t morally upright?” It’s a valid question. But I would answer it with another one: who is morally upright? Every single one of us, Christian or not, has deep moral flaws—including every single candidate that is on the ballot or that could be written in. Some flaws manifest themselves differently than others, and some are more public than others, but they are all flaws, nonetheless.

The only difference Christians can boast is the indwelling Holy Spirit Who can help us overcome our flaws. But again, the “not yet” aspect of God’s kingdom means that even Christians will still fail to live perfectly holy, upright lives. Just because someone is a Christian does not mean they will always make wise decisions. “Yes, but at least they are governed by Christ.” Okay, so if that is what we most care about, then we’re back to saying we should vote for Christians.

For the sake of discussion, let’s say, yes, sure, we should vote for a Christian. But what if a Christian isn’t on the ballot? “Then write one in.” But what if your state’s laws prevent you from writing in? Do you just not vote? I hope I’ve shown with the first half of this post that the answer to that is “no—you should vote.”  So what then?

If we should vote, and voting for a Christian is not an option, then how do we decide whom to vote for? I would suggest looking two places—1) to the place that outlines the qualifications for elected officials and 2) to the passage in Jeremiah. For President, for instance, the requirements are that a person be a natural born citizen, at least 35 years old, and have lived in the U.S. for at least fourteen years (see Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution). Once those requirements have been met, then I believe we should choose the candidate whom we believe will best foster our country’s welfare (see Jeremiah 29:7 above)—and by “welfare” I don’t mean government programs, I mean general well-being.

This means looking at the candidates’ policies and records—their stances on the issues and their specific plans for decision-making and action/inaction. The reality is that we are choosing people who will be leading (and hopefully serving) our country by making decisions that will affect the well-being of our people. Hypothetically, let’s say that there are two candidates whom we equally consider to be people of character but who have very different views on a particular issue. I believe we should choose the one whose policies most align with what we believe will lead to the welfare of our nation.

And it is here that being a Christian helps inform our decision. What does Scripture have to say about the issues facing our nation? And for the ones Scripture does not specifically address, what are the biblical principles that help us shape our understanding of them? Once we have educated ourselves on the issues and given prayerful consideration to a biblical stance on them [which involves actually reading the Bible—in context], we should look at where each of the candidates stand and choose the one who most matches up with our beliefs.

In this way, I believe we can be honoring to God by fulfilling the responsibilities of the earthly citizenship He has granted us. Voting for the people we believe to best represent biblical positions on the issues and praying for our elected officials are two ways we can seek the welfare of the country/state/city God has ordained as our earthly home. May He grant us wisdom and a gracious spirit in interacting with our fellow believers and citizens in the weeks and months ahead.

2020: Something Lost or Something Gained?

I can see them now: the usual “Thank God this year is over” memes that seem to surface at the end of every year. Only this year, I imagine they will express that sentiment on steroids. 2020 has been a year for the books, and a lot of us have been left feeling like much of this year has been lost and that there’s been nothing we could do about it. In fact, stopping to think for a moment about all the lost experiences can be overwhelmingly depressing.

There are regulations that have cost countless people the last days with their loved ones whom they are not allowed to visit in the hospital, have cost countless couples the wedding of their dreams surrounded by their family and friends—if they even were able to get married at all, have cost countless others the opportunity to have closure and to fully celebrate the memory of their departed family member or friend by having a funeral, have cost countless students the opportunity to fully celebrate their success in completing high school or college or graduate school. There is peer pressure or fear that has cost countless grandchildren months-worth of hugs or even face-to-face time with their grandparents and vice versa; restrictions that have kept spouses and families separated, oceans apart from each other; closures and cancellations that have cost countless “lasts” that will be never be regained.

These are not hypothetical examples. I know people in each of these situations, and even just the cases I know about are enough to make me sick to my stomach. In my personal life, too, it is easy to get sucked into the depressing cycle of thinking how many weeks of our marriage we have lost as we enter the fourth month past our original wedding date, still thousands of miles apart with no end of separation in sight. But instead of fixating on what has been lost, I have been challenging myself—and I would like to challenge you too—to focus on what has been gained.

To show you what I mean, I’ll give you a glimpse into a conversation I have with myself almost every day:

               It’s been over three months since I was supposed to be with my husband.

               Yes, but you’ve gotten three extra months of time to build the foundation for your marriage.

 

               It’s been almost four months since I was supposed to be living in my new country.

               Yes, but you’ve gotten almost four extra months to enjoy the parts of your home country that

               you’ll miss.

 

               I’m missing out on family celebrations in my new country.

               Yes, but you’ve gotten to spend extra time with your parents and extended family here.

 

               I haven’t gotten to start setting up my new home.

               Yes, but you’ve gotten to finish a lot of extra things that would have been left hanging if you left                 when you were supposed to.

 

These are just a few examples from my own situation, but I encourage you to examine your year and think about what you have gained in 2020. Absolutely it is important to acknowledge, grieve, and lament for everything that has been lost. The losses have been real and painful, and we should not ignore that fact. But we don’t have to wallow in the losses. Instead, we can search for and celebrate what has been gained.

 

What uplifting conversations have you had with friends in this season? What people have you gotten to reconnect with? What books have you gotten to read? What has God taught you? What have you come to appreciate? What have you gotten to participate in that you wouldn’t have been able to otherwise?

You might have to think hard to find what you have gained, but let me encourage you to put in the effort and start thinking of 2020 in light of the good things it has held.

 

And instead of wishing for this year to be over, let’s be excited that we still have a full third of the year left in which to gain. Because the truth is, this year we have had the exact same amount of time as we always have—24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, and 365/6 days in a year. The question is—how will we view that time? Will we focus on it as time that we should have been spending doing something else, going somewhere else? Or will we focus on it as time that can be fruitful regardless of where we are or who we are with?

 

This is true for everyone, but for followers of Jesus, there is an even deeper way in which we can view 2020 as time gained rather than time lost. We know that God wastes absolutely nothing and that He is always about the business of making us more like Jesus. In God’s eyes, then, we can be confident that 2020 is not a wasted year, which means it is not a wasted year for us. Every loss we experience has the potential to be turned into a gain if it helps us know Jesus better and makes us more like Him (see Philippians 3). Looking at 2020 from this perspective, we see that it just might be one of the best years yet.

 

So let’s embrace the last four months of 2020 with an eye toward finding what there is to gain. And when reach year’s end, let’s look sober-mindedly back on the year and say, “Yes, much was lost, but praise God much more was gained.”

PC: Teresa Cantrell. Used with Permission.

 

Lessons from Literature: The Grace of a Gradual Reveal (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)

Sometimes when reading a good story, a single sentence will stand out and cause your thoughts to wander to other things. Such was the case recently as I was reading a Sherlock Holmes tale called “The Engineer’s Thumb” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In introducing the case, the narrator and Holmes’s friend, Dr. Watson, makes this statement:

The story has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes and the mystery clears gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads on to the complete truth (Doyle, 213).

The resonance of this statement not only provides a good example of how fiction can be just as much a vehicle for truth as nonfiction can be but also leads us to consider how it might reflect an even deeper idea regarding the way in which the greatest Storyteller operates in relation to us. Essentially, Doyle (through Watson) is pointing out that a story’s end makes more of an impression when it is not revealed until—well, the end. Furthermore, he suggests that the details of the story are essential to a full understanding of it as a whole.

We intuitively know this, as is evidenced by our general dislike of spoilers and our (especially women’s, it seems) propensity to want to tell every part of a story instead of just “the bottom line.” We admire storytellers who masterfully lay out more and more pieces of information throughout the telling instead of hitting us with everything at the beginning. Even those stories that start in the present and then flash back to tell the backstory illustrate the importance of the preliminary details to our understanding of the story’s conclusion. Think of the excitement you get from books or films that cause you say, “Wow, I didn’t see that coming!” or “Oh, so that’s what that line meant! I get it now!” This all illustrates that we appreciate storytellers who gradually reveal.

So why don’t we appreciate that about God?

When it comes to the story of our lives, we encounter a myriad of plot twists and a lot of seemingly mundane occurrences. Sometimes we wish we could jump to the end and see how it all turns out. We know that God knows how this curveball or that confusion, these disappointments or those delights, fit into the narrative of our story, but sometimes we wish He would share what our life looks like from His point of view. Sometimes we wish the Storyteller would reveal not gradually but all at once. And now.

But when we think about our lives as a story that’s being written, we begin to see the gradual reveal of events’ relevance as an evidence of the mercifulness and graciousness of God. God is merciful in not preemptively showing us how all the pieces of our story fit together, because frankly we wouldn’t be able to handle it. I can look back on my life now and see that certain sorrows were not nearly as unbearable when they came because of previous sorrows that God had used to grow and strengthen me in different ways. But if I knew at the point of those previous struggles that part of their purpose was to prepare me for other hard things? Let’s just say I would not have appreciated it.

But because of God’s gradual revealing of that purpose, not only am I able to draw strength from it instead of being drained or crushed by it, but also I am able to marvel at God’s magnificent plan and praise Him for His wisdom. And that’s where we see His grace.

We don’t deserve anything from God but judgment, and we certainly don’t deserve answers to our questions regarding the exact reasons for everything that happens in our lives. But God in His kindness chooses to give us glimpses every now and then that we don’t deserve, glimpses of how He is working in our lives through the circumstances and relationships that make up our story. He allows us to see that it was because we went through that trial, that we were then able to face this loss. It was because I met this person that I got involved with this group and then met this person, who changed the entire direction of my life.

In helping us see these things over the course of time, God graciously invites us to look upon the magnificence of His character. He draws us into deeper relationship with Himself as we come to love and appreciate Him more for Who He is—the all-wise, all-knowing, Supreme Storyteller. And one day, when we followers of Christ come before His presence for all eternity, I have a feeling that the conclusion of the story of our time-bound life will be all the sweeter and richer for our having lived through the gradual reveal of details that led our story Home.

PC: Pamela Hollis. Used with Permission.

 

Source: Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. “The Engineer’s Thumb.” In The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 213-237. New York: Scholastic, 2003. 

Fighting Modern Slavery: A Conversation with Annie Fain

July 30 was World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, so today on the blog, I’d like to invite you into a conversation about this heavy yet important issue with a dear friend of mine who works on the front lines. Annie Fain is the Partnership Coordinator and A Way Out Program Assistant at A Way Out Ministries in Memphis, Tennessee, an organization whose mission is “to assist any woman desiring to permanently leave sex trafficking.” For more information, see https://www.awoministries.org/.

I first met Annie through church when I was in high school, and despite our age difference, we became friends through several shared experiences and creative projects, the most significant of which involved playing on-screen sisters. Annie’s kind and compassionate heart and love for the Lord and His Word are characteristics of her life, and it’s been a joy to see her grow into a passionate woman of God. I’m thankful to be able to share her insight with you.

Olivia: What is one thing you think people should know about the realities of human trafficking?

 

Annie: I think the most foundational thing people should know is that trafficking is real, it is growing, and it happens near your home. Trafficking is a strategic system of organized crime that’s ultimate goal is to profit from the inhumane treatment of men, women, and children.

 

The methodology of trafficking is built on isolating and exploiting the most vulnerable people. Many different types of vulnerabilities often intersect in an individual’s life and prime them to be manipulated or coerced by a trafficker. The most common narrative is one of individuals being first trafficked at the hands of someone they know, not abducted by a stranger. Some of the vulnerabilities traffickers look for include: generational poverty, habitual childhood abuse, habitual sexual abuse, time in foster care, racial and social oppression, homelessness, being a single parent, mental illness, lack of education, lack of workforce opportunities, and generally the presence of any outstanding socioeconomic disparities.

Vulnerability answers the question of “How did this person fall prey to exploitation?” and if this is true, then for concerned citizens that means that addressing and diminishing any of these factors in an individual’s life can help prevent them from falling into cycles of exploitation.

 

But that still leaves us with the question “Why is trafficking so prevalent and increasing?” The only answer is demand. Labor trafficking is thriving because there is a demand for products instantaneously, and sex trafficking is thriving because there are sex buyers who purchase (predominantly) women and girls. The most important issue that needs to be addressed on the local, state, and federal levels regarding policy reform on human trafficking is combatting the demand.

 

Olivia: How did you get involved in anti-trafficking work?

 

Annie: I got involved due to an answered prayer. I first heard of the issue of trafficking while still in high school through Passion Conference’s awareness initiative called End It Movement. Even then the issue stirred my heart and burdened me, but I left unsure of anything tangible I could do to fight it. I went on with life and worked in other industries for a few years, ultimately knowing that I wasn’t where I wanted to be long term. I had prayed years prior that the Lord would give me a cause to champion that mattered to Him, and I resumed that prayer, adding that God would allow me to work somewhere that I could talk about Him openly and the work of my hands would matter into eternity. It was shortly after that I met a girl at a Christmas party who told me that she did anti-trafficking work, and I told her I wanted to volunteer. Two weeks later she said she was stepping down from her position, and I told her I wanted it. I interviewed, and God gave me the job – with no certifications, job experience, or educational training for this field. That’s when you know it’s God.

 

Olivia: Trafficking is a heavy reality. What keeps you going in your ministry?

 

Annie: Someone once told me to find where my greatest passion and greatest burden collide, and to champion that issue. For me, that cause is trafficking, and more specifically sex trafficking.

The greatest thing I can do to continue in ministry to victims of sex trafficking is to remove myself from the role of rescuer. I think a great deal of well-meaning people get involved with this work because they are intoxicated on the idea of getting to rescue people. It is beautiful to want to set people free, but we have entirely misconstrued our role if we view success as how many women we have ripped out of a pimp’s arms. Often, our role as advocates is simply to love survivors with no agenda. For women exiting commercial sexual exploitation, it takes an average of 7 attempts for her to finally, permanently be ready to reintegrate into society.

 

I think for anyone endeavoring to do this work, it takes an impassioned understanding of the justice heart of God. I have seen justice sought against traffickers where the trafficker walked free. Knowing that God will administer perfect justice on behalf of survivors is liberating.  

 

I have to keep in mind who my enemy is—it would be easy, especially when we are talking about demand, sex buyers, traffickers, rapists, and madams, to point a finger and cite them as the source of evil. But at the end of the day, while we want stricter punishment for evil acts and want true justice for victims, the sex buyer, trafficker, and brothel owner are not our enemy. They are acting out of a brokenness and depravity that Jesus wants to restore them from too. It is a humbling and beautiful thing to realize that the compassion of God reaches also to the sex buyer, and ultimately Satan is the one true enemy.

 

Olivia: What are some ways that others can get involved in combatting modern-day slavery?

 

Annie:

1.      Become Informed: Read, listen to podcasts, seek education on policy and reform, and most importantly give ear to survivor’s testimonies. I’ve seen many, many advocates or citizens say, “I am a voice for those who are voiceless,” which in its intention is good, but it is not necessarily true. While many who are currently in cycles of exploitation are not afforded a voice, survivors who have been rescued and are far removed from trafficking are speaking up. They have strong opinions on policy and on restoration; they voice their needs, their struggle, and their trauma—they aren’t voiceless. We would do well to offer them our ear.

2.      Sign, sign, sign:

·        There is a petition to shut down PornHub, one of the largest pornography websites in the world, due to their complicity in trafficking, rape, and incest along with a plethora of other evils and human rights violations. Sign the petition to shut PornHub down at traffickinghub.com.

·        There is a dedicated organization based in South Africa that has created a charter to support Abolitionist Equality Law in Africa through the Coalition for the Abolition of Prostitution in Africa (CAPA), and you can sign the charter at embracedignity.org.za. Go to the Get Involved dropdown menu and click Sign the CAPA Charter.

·        To learn more about the Equality Model (also called the Nordic Model or Abolition Model) and sign the pledge to say you understand and support this model, go to equalitymodelus.org.

3.      Be the one. I have heard from NGO leaders, survivors, and counselors alike that oftentimes in an individual’s journey of recovery, it only takes having one person who believes in them wholeheartedly and unconditionally for them to make it. You can be that person across the table, on the other end of the phone, or in the driver’s seat on the way to their first job interview. Just be present in their life. They don’t need you to fix them or view them as a project; they need to you be present, to listen, and to believe them. Throw them a celebration when they get their HiSet (GED), help them apply to college, babysit their child one night, or pick them up for church. Be there for them and decide you aren’t going to leave, even if they sometimes have a little bit of the street left in them.

4.      Take a strong stance on the link between pornography and sex trafficking and seek or offer mentorship to those who may be struggling with this issue in an attitude that is devoid of shame and that cultivates healing.

5.      Pray this way:

·   For darkness to be exposed

·   For women, men, and children to be rescued & restored

·   For righteous justice to be executed

·   For more workers in the field

·   That the sex industry will NOT be legalized or decriminalized in the United States

·   For men who exploit women in prostitution to STOP and to find holistic physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional healing from sexual addiction

6.      Donate money, time, and in-kind donations (clothing, hygiene supplies, computers, furniture) to a safe house/recovery center near you.

 

Pro Tip: Not all organizations that claim to fight trafficking adhere to the belief that DEMAND is the root cause for trafficking, in fact some deny it. These organizations are highly visible and claim to make an impact in the war on trafficking, but without addressing demand, cycles of exploitation will never stop. Research the organizations where you donate money, time, and resources and find out their stance on DEMAND.

 

Olivia: What are some resources you would recommend for those who want to learn more?

 

Annie:

Books

Vulnerable by Raleigh Sadler
Intervention Manual by Exodus Cry
In Pursuit of Love by Rebecca Bender*
The White Umbrella by Mary Francis Bowley
Fallen by Annie Lobert*
Girls Like Us by Rachel Lloyd*
Free Cyntoia by Cyntoia Brown*

 

*survivor written

Documentaries

Nefarious: Merchant of Souls by Exodus Cry (full screening available on YouTube)
Liberated: The New Sexual Revolution by Exodus Cry (available on Netflix & YouTube)

For any who may be battling pornography and sexual addiction(s)

If you, the reader, have dealt with sexual addiction in any form, including but not limited to: consumption of pornography, attending and doing business at strip clubs/massage parlors, or engaging with women or children in prostitution, none of what is written today is to shame or blame you. The sole purpose is to inform you that you have encountered and furthered exploitation, and the practices of violating and consuming another person for your own gain was not only degrading to the victim, but to you as well, and there is healing for you too. I would encourage you to seek counsel, mentorship, and accountability from individuals the same gender as you who are currently in places of health and success in their walk towards pure and righteous sexuality.

Recovery resources for anyone battling sexual addition

·   Authentic Relationships International—articles, podcast, speaking events, and navigation tools for dealing with pornography addiction within relationships

·   Pure Life Ministries—sermons, podcasts, counseling, partner counseling, events, books

·   Covenant Eyes—Screen filters, support for couples, family protection, etc. 

·   Fight the New Drug—Fighter club, documentaries, etc.

·   Culture Reframed—Parenting in a hypersexualized culture

·   LizWalkerPresents.com and her Youth Wellbeing Project—Conversation tips for addressing this with youth, children’s books, and school curricula

 

Whether you are just beginning to learn about exploitation and human trafficking or whether you’ve been involved in the struggle for some time, I pray this conversation has challenged you to take a stand and encouraged you to keep up the good fight. God is a God of justice, redemption, healing, grace, and unfailing love. Whether you find yourself an advocate, a survivor, an enabler, or a perpetrator, God can meet you at your point of need and see you through.

Always Ready

We’re going on a month now since my fiancé and I were supposed to get married and over a month since I was going to move overseas. My bags have been (mostly) packed since the beginning of June, and we still don’t know when I’ll be able to move—or get married. In some ways, you would think that a person like me, who loves time to prepare for things, would be relieved at the extra time to make preparations for two such life-altering occurrences, but while it is true that I have been able to do a lot more things to get ready than I initially was going to be able to, I’ve found myself much more angsty from this prolonged “preparation” time largely because it has required me to live in a state of being always ready.

My favorite clothes and other necessities have been in suitcases for weeks. Sometimes I’ve needed to dig something out to use, but then must remember to pack it back in the right suitcase so the carefully measured weight stays the same. I could have waited to pack, had I known how long our plans would be delayed, but the constant unknown of when I’ll be able to travel directs me to be as prepared as I can be to leave at a moment’s notice. These weeks have shown me that being always ready for something you know is coming but know not when is frustrating, wearying, and just plain exhausting.

But as I’ve been thinking about this state of always being ready, the Lord has reminded (and convicted) me that this state is exactly the one He has called me to be in as I wait for His return. This tension that I have been annoyed at of living in some sort of in-between world mirrors the tension I am to embrace spiritually as I live in the already-but-not-yet reality of God’s kingdom.

Before His crucifixion, when Jesus is talking to His disciples about His second coming, He tells them, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. […] Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:36, 44, ESV). He goes on to tell parables about people who were living their lives unprepared—wedding guests unprepared for the arrival of the groom and servants unprepared for their master’s return—and says, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:13, ESV).

In Mark’s accounting, Jesus commands, “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake” (Mark 13:33-37). And in Luke, Jesus says, “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks” (Luke 12:35-36, ESV).

All of these passages impress upon the reader a strong sense of active waiting, of constant readiness and relentless alertness. Notice the phrases, “be ready,” “watch,” “be on guard,” “keep awake,” “stay awake,” “stay awake,” “stay awake,” “stay dressed for action,” “keep your lamps burning.” These things all require effort, stamina, and intentional action. Just keeping a lamp burning would require making a plan to have enough oil, including working so that resources would be available to purchase the oil, keeping the lamp clean, and watching the lamp 24/7 to make sure the oil did not run out. Staying awake also takes effort, especially when you are tired and it seems like you’ve been waiting forever already. Yet these things are pictures of what we are called to do as followers of Jesus.

Through this temporal waiting period of anticipating my move and marriage, the Lord has given me a glimpse into how I am to live as His Bride. I now have a point of reference for what it looks like to live every day being ready to go. I understand in a more experiential way what it means to live in one place while keeping my ties to it loose, so that I am ready to leave the moment the doors open.

I live in my house in the United States, but in another place I have another house waiting on me—a house that I direct time and attention and affection toward building up with my future husband. In the same way, on a spiritual level, I live in my home on Earth, but in another Place I have another home waiting on me—a home that I should be directing time and attention and affection toward building up with my forever Husband. I am not to completely detach from my current home—I still live here; it is the place where God has put me to invest in for this time. But neither am I to neglect my other home or sit by and snooze because its coming seems so far away.

Exactly how this plays out practically when it comes to our forever home, I am still learning, just as God is still teaching me how to practically (and placidly) live in this active-waiting stage of prolonged engagement. But I think it’s safe to say that, since God desires us to live each day in this state of readiness for His return, His Spirit will provide the strength and guidance we need to do so.

He is coming. We don’t know when, but we know He is. So let’s not wait until the last moment to ready ourselves for His return. In His strength, with His peace and perseverance and wisdom, let’s be always ready for that day and the eternity to come. And, oh, what a glorious day that will be.

I would love to hear from those of you who have studied God’s Word—what do you think it looks like on a day-to-day basis to live always ready for Christ’s return?

To read the Arabic translation of this post, click here.

لقراءة الترجمة العربية لهذا المنشور إضغط هنا.

PC: Christina Hildreth. Used with permission.

Why Trace Time?

In 2020 America, we are suffering from a great lack of historical knowledge. Perhaps you’ve seen the videos of journalists stopping people on the street to ask them questions about the history of the country in which they were born and raised. They find people who think the Civil War was fought in the 1950s, who can’t recognize or even name the first president, who think that Abraham Lincoln was a Democrat, who don’t know how many states there are, the list goes on and on…

Some might think that’s no big deal, that there’s no point in knowing useless facts like names and dates, and that names and dates is all history is about anyway. But an ignorance regarding names and dates is a sign of a greater ignorance. Admittedly, it’s not that important to know the exact date of a given historical event, but if someone can’t even assign the Declaration of Independence or World War II to the right century, then they have no understanding of the larger trajectory of the past that has led us to where we are today. And when it comes to names, we must remember that names are not just names; they are attached to people—people who lived as surely as you and I are living, who influenced the world around them, and whose legacy is still affecting today, whether we see it or not. 

History is not just names and dates. Studying history is essentially studying the story of humanity—what people have done, where they have gone, how they have lived and interacted with one another. It is the means by which we are able to make sense of our current context. A person with no knowledge of history is akin to an alien dropping into our world with absolutely no idea of how things work or how things got to be the way they are. If you’ve ever been to a different country (or in some cases to a different part of the United States), you might have noticed how different customs are based on the historical backgrounds of those places. Without an understanding of the historical background, the customs might seem odd, but with such an understanding, they become clearer.

We understand this on an individual level. We can look back at our own personal histories and see how our past has led to our present, how former experiences have shaped current perspectives, emotions, and actions. If you woke up tomorrow with complete amnesia, you’d struggle to know how to move forward because you would have no context for your life. In extrapolating that idea to a family or society, we can see how a knowledge of collective past experiences provides a grounding from which to approach current realities and step into the future. As we begin to understand the why behind certain customs or situations, we find ourselves becoming more empathetic because our perspective is an informed one. We are closer to knowing the whole story.

And that’s why having a knowledge of history is important and why the current historical ignorance is concerning. Some say the problem is that history is not being taught at all in schools any longer. Perhaps this is true in some cases. In other cases, what is called “history” is actually politicized, agenda-driven indoctrination. The powers-that-be decide what version of the story should be told, and that is the only picture the students receive unless they take the initiative to ask questions and find the answers themselves. In either case, we end up with a woefully ill-equipped citizenry. In the first case, we are left with sheer ignorance; in the latter, we are left with citizens who are only given half of the foundation they need to move forward (if that).    

One of the best antidotes to this lack of education, I believe, is to go to the source. In other words, if you want to know about George Washington or Booker T. Washington, read their own writings. If you want to know about a battle, read the official military accounts as well as diaries of soldiers who fought in it. And when reading what we call “secondary sources,” i.e. sources that are not written by eyewitnesses of an event, be mindful of any biases that the authors might have and see whether they cite their sources, and if so, what sources they cite.

Before we can even get to this point, though, there has to be an interest, a motivation to learn, an understanding that history is important and that—more than that—it’s often fun! And that’s one of the reasons I’ve begun the page Time Tracing: How to Engage with History on Facebook and Instagram. If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you might have picked up on the fact that I love history—like a lot—and have for as long as I can remember. This love of history turned into a more formal pursuit as I majored in history in college and decided to pursue work in the archival field. And it was in these settings that I gained an even greater appreciation of the importance of knowing about the past.

Now that I’m no longer working outside the home, I’ve decided to take my passion for history and my educational and professional training and turn it into something that will hopefully help inspire and equip others to learn more about their family’s and country’s history and motivate those in their circles of influence to do the same. There’s just something about learning about how people lived in different times and places from our own that inspires the imagination and stirs the intellect, especially when we can trace their time directly to our own.

If you’d like to learn more about history and genealogy, including how to learn more on your own, I invite you to like/follow Time Tracing on Facebook and Instagram: @time.tracing. I look forward to continuing to learn alongside you all!

PC: Keri-Lynn Paulson. Used with permission.