the exchange.

Last night felt like the biggest night of my life. The event and movement I've been planning for almost a year now came to life. I was humbled and simply in awe of what happened. I can't really even put it into words.

Tears came to my eyes as friend after friend ran up to me with the profile of the child they just sponsored through Compassion. It was so overwhelming to see people caring, my friends, my teenage friends giving of their small allotment of money to help people in need, children with no hope.

It was beautiful. This is how the world should be.

I don't have much else to say, so I guess I'll just paste the little speech I gave:

To be honest, I didn’t want to do this event two weeks ago. I was tired. Plans weren’t going through. I didn’t feel like we could do these issues justice if we sloppily slapped something together. I didn’t feel like I could keep my sanity and go through with planning this. And I kinda figured that if God wasn’t pulling through, since things weren’t working out, he might just not want us to do it at all.

I agonized over throwing it all away. It pained me to think that this movement I started, this mission I feel drawn towards, this work I’ve invested myself in might be thrown away. But I really didn’t think I could do it. And looking back, I failed to see one thing:

“No act of love, no matter how small, is ever wasted, is ever meaningless.”

As I stumbled in my confusion, Mr. Hough sent me an email, reminding me of the greatness, and love of our God.

I remember just sitting in my room, in sobbing tears as I read his words over and over:

“No act of love, no matter how small, is ever wasted, is ever meaningless.”

This is worth it.

So I’m here, we’re here, and this is happening. And I’m just in complete awe. I’ve been broken, I’ve been pulled from every angle. I’ve cried just about all the tears I thought I had. I’ve said all the prayers I consider humanly possible.

But through it all, I realize that love is why we’re here. The truth, the freedom, the assurance, the peace, the grace, the abundance of life we experience in love. A love for people. A desire to see their lives transformed. That’s why we’re here.

We started this event last year to reverse the exploitation of people in our world. I learned that over 27 million individuals are enslaved each year—that’s over 3 times the population of Los Angeles! I was in shock. I couldn’t even fathom how slavery still existed—and I’ve lived 18 years completely oblivious to it all!

And this year, we’ve tacked on the issue of homelessness, something so prevalent right here in our own city. I drive by homeless people on my way to and from school, and most days I just pass them by.

But the statistics are so staggering: there are 1,165 people who are homeless on a given day in Pasadena. That’s like an entire school! 254,000 men, women and children experience homelessness in Los Angeles County during some part of the year, which is almost 1.5% of the total population of Los Angeles. Not to mention, nearly twice the amount of all homeless people in New York and Chicago combined!

Who am I to just keep driving by them?

They’re people too. A couple weeks ago I was doing some service with my church, and for part of the day we met with this homeless lady named Cindy. We listened to her share her story, and I was just struck by how normal she was. Lots of times, I think I just assume that homeless people are a little nutty, and if I give them money, they’ll just go spend it on drugs.

But when I met Cindy that all changed. She put a face to the issue. Here was a woman struggling to get by, honestly. Here was a woman who had a completely normal life, but poor decision after poor decision brought her to the streets. What hit me the most was the amount of discrimination homeless people face. It’s crazy to think that when politicians say they’re going to clean up the streets, they really mean they’re just kicking homeless people off the streets. Where are they supposed to go? Shelters are often so full! What are they supposed to do when cities make it illegal for people to sleep horizontally in public places? How are they supposed to get a job, when they don’t have a place to wash up? Who’s going to help them? Who’s going to challenge the law enforcement, who’s going to stand up for them?

I am. I will. This discrimination, is wrong. And it needs to stop.

This past year, I’ve prayed and sung that God would break my heart for what breaks his. And I think that’s happened: my heart breaks for people like Cindy, for little girls stuck in the sex trade in Thailand, for families endlessly toiling in rice mills in India to pay off an age-old debt.

As I look at my life, I want it to have meaning, to have purpose, to have impact. I want to live and die for something higher, something other than myself. I want to lead people into experiencing what I have, into the knowledge I know. I want to love people, love people till it hurts. I want to encourage people, in their weakest, darkest moments. I want to advocate justice, reminding people of the way this world should be. I want to be a light, a reflection, a living sacrifice for my God, in everything I do. I want to live in complete surrender to him, abandoning all else for his glory.

I don’t want to reach the end of the road and find I’ve lived this life in vain, lived for my own ambitions. I don’t want to breathe my last breath, wondering what else I could have done. I don’t want to leave this world, regretting the choices I made. I don’t want to be normal, seeking and storing up for myself treasures on earth. I don’t want to lose sight of what’s important, forgetting the overwhelming love of my God, forgetting to be his hands and feet, forgetting that I’m the one he’s invited to finish the good work he’s begun.

I don’t want people to live in pain. I don’t want people to feel inadequate. I don’t want people to be exploited in their weakness. I don’t want people to be forgotten, their talents unappreciated. I don’t want people to despair, live with no hope. I don’t want people to go through life without knowing about this God. I don’t want injustice to wreck any more lives. I don’t want corruption to reign supreme any longer.

Something needs to be done. Pleasure is too high a priority, while people are in peril and pain permeates. The lost need to know and experience the overwhelming love of our gracious God. They need to know there’s another way. They need to see how the power of his presence will crush their despair and bring them into freedom.

So tonight, I encourage you to join me in taking a step towards that change. We have tons of organizations here and there are so many practical ways you can help. I want to especially encourage you to consider sponsoring a child through Compassion. We’re really excited to have them here tonight because through their program you can donate just about a dollar a day to ensure that a child is released from the confines of spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty, that they’re cared for, have food, and a safe place to go. They’ve even done something really special: they’ve brought profiles of kids who live in the areas we as a school send missions teams. Imagine how cool that would be to sponsor a kid here tonight, and visit them next summer on a missions trip?! If you can’t swing that monthly commitment right now, then I encourage you to donate what you can to help us as a school sponsor a few kids.

Whatever you choose, take this opportunity to do something! Because tonight, we’re taking a stand. Tonight, we’re letting our awareness of these issues, our love for these people, to motivate us to action. Tonight, we refuse to let the weight of these issues cripple us. Tonight, we will not be silent.