“Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.” – Anne Frank
Thoughts
It seems like only yesterday I was riding a bike through the old cobblestone streets of Old and New Amsterdam, admiring the tiniest of details hoping my mind would remember every single thing so that I could never forget that moment in time. Northern Europe is such a different culture to the one I was raised in, but it still calls to me with the differences I experienced while exploring this beautiful city. I learned that art is a form of language that any culture or person can understand if looked at with a certain perspective. I learned that music is soothing to the soul even when you’re so exhausted from walking way too many miles up and down small canals. It’s the music that fills the streets that somehow eases the blisters on your feet from constantly wearing the wrong shoes when traveling. It’s those little memories that make me smile at those experiences because they made the adventure authentic and unique.
Hello, Goodbye
People often ask me what my favorite part of the city was, If it was the fact that one of my favorite romantic movies was filmed there ;The Fault in Our Stars, if it was the beautiful tall people that seem to inhabit The Netherlands, or if it was simply the rich historic background that is offered throughout the country. Although all those things did make me love this place, it’s none of those that actually changed my life. What changed my life was being able to meet girls who are my same age that are stuck in an alternate reality to mine. Girls that somehow along the way have lost the spark in their eyes and have turned to the night life in Amsterdam. It wasn’t seeing them that changed me, but it was hearing each and every girl’s story of how they once had dreams as little girls to be somebody one day that really broke me. When I got to speak with them it wasn’t a grown woman I was talking to, but it was another girl with my same age, and the only difference was that she grew up in a different place than I did. I watched as window after window these girls had lost their child-like smile and had turned into tough beings because of their circumstances. It’s in the middle of these situations that I can’t help but question God. What do I have to offer these girls if I have not been through the same or even similar situations? How can I change a cultural norm if I am just one person? – Well what God has been teaching me little by little, is that it’s not about changing the whole world at one time. It’s about loving the person in front of you well. Serving them and showing them who Jesus is. We are on this earth for one purpose, and that is to be Jesus to those people who have never met that name before. It’s so easy to overwhelm ourselves with looking at the big picture thinking, “I cannot change a whole city, or even a culture”, but in reality God just wants you to be Jesus to them. In my case I ended up sharing my story with a lot of the girls I met that day. I shared how it was through perfect love that was freely given for me that helped me soften my heart to all those people that had hurt me, even the ones that I thought I would never recuperate from. I was able to share hope, something they had seemed to lose sight of. The hardest part for me was not seeing all this in first person, but it was leaving it behind that really hurt the most. Most of those girls I probably will never see again, but they marked my heart so much that I will never forget that that exists. That sex trafficking is and has to be constantly fought, and that saying nothing will never be the answer. So to answer the question, my favorite part of this experience was being able to be a part of something greater than myself. Although visiting the Anne Frank house, seeing the Van Gough museum, taking a dinner boat cruise through the famous Amsterdam canals, and having the best wine and cheese in the world isn’t and will never ever come close to the immense privilege it was to meet and hear the girl’s stories. What I have experienced and seen is that material things will come and go, but our stories will last forever. It’s what you do with your life that really makes everything worth the while.
Sometimes I think that God allows us to see bits and pieces of brokenness so that we can stand up and do something about it. It might not change the whole outcome overnight, but what God starts he will soon finish.
eyesofwander 