Stories of Rescue

The power of micro narratives (short, local stories that impact us as individuals) is clearly demonstrated throughout the compendium of stories that paint the macro canvas of scripture. I had the opportunity to hear some micro narratives on my trip to Asia earlier this month. Similar to those found in our scriptures, these stories have the power to turn my heart inside out and leave me hyperventilating and in wonder of "Jehovah Sneaky" who suddenly plunged me into the whitewater rapids of this Kingdom river.

During the trip, I was with a team from Traffic Jam (www.trafficjam.org) that was doing a film treatment for a longer documentary that will be in theaters around 2013. At their request, we brought in a few former child soldiers from our projects in Bur-ma (My-an-mar) for interviews, as well as a few children who had been on the ragged edges human trafficking and sexual slavery before we took them into our home in Thailand.

Some of the stories that ensued reminded us of our own history in Southeast Asia, such as the time surrounding the resettlement of Bur-ma’s Southern Shan States that began in 1999 and involved the forcible relocation of nearly a quarter of a million people with only what they could carry on their backs. This conflict created some border tensions with Thailand, as fighting came and went for several years, peaking in 2002. We clearly recall our city becoming a ghost town overnight, with mortars landing in town and machine guns going off like strings of firecrackers. Many children were orphaned by that war, so naturally we started a home for some of these children.

Khun, one of the children we received, was the first child soldier we ever rescued. We did not have to negotiate his release, as we have done for the other children, since he was a deserter in hiding. As he told us the story of his time as a soldier, it was reminiscent of the stories we have heard all too often: long hours of labor and training, floggings for any slight hint of insubordination or inability to perform, hunger pains with only three small bowls of rice in vegetable broth a day. He also spoke of ill-fitting clothing or lack thereof and being jammed into dirty, narrow barracks with 50-60 other children with one threadbare blanket apiece. And even years later, he still has no earthly idea how to find his parents.

With terse, emotion laden words Khun shared of how he made a desperate escape late one night with his 13-year-old accomplice who knew the way across the mountains in the dark of night. By God’s grace, one of our village pastors found Khun a few days later and brought him to us, since he was wanted as a deserter and needed a safe place. Khun is now a thriving young man 8 years later. He is close to finishing high school and is grateful for God’s intervention in his life.

At this point in our ministry, we have access to several hundreds—even thousands—of child soldiers, children in armed drug conflicts and young girls who were raped by soldiers and discarded as products of their society and war (many of whom now have unwanted babies). I don’t really know how to communicate to you that these are not typical rescues. It is highly unusual for us to have access to so many children like this in multiple countries. It is extraordinary, actually, but I think that it should be normal…meaning that the church should be so engaged in pursuing justice that we would normally be the ones to have access to the least accessible and darkest places.

So, what do we do now? Do we rescue all the children that have become accessible? I don’t know. All I know is that I’ve encountered the dunamis (dynamite power) of God’s love once again through the children’s micro narratives of suffering and redemption. When God said in Exodus 20:2, “I am the Lord God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt,” he was essentially saying, “I AM the LORD GOD who RESCUED you from slavery.” This rescue was a formational time for Israel, and it is still the way we meet Jesus: he radically rescues us who are slaves to sin and evil. He is the God of rescue, which is why I believe the abolition of slavery is central to the heartbeat of this generation. Slavery is a physical institution that reflects the spiritual reality of the whole world, but it also heralds our call to amazing freedom as the sons and daughters of an absolutely good Father.

It takes people with resolve and Holy Spirit boldness to rescue these kids. If God has put it in your heart to partner with Divine Inheritance, please feel free to visit our website by clicking here. If that is not what Holy Spirit is prompting you to do, then he has surely stirred your heart if you’ve read all the way to this point. Our prayer is that you would let the divine wrestle begin until you encounter God through finding your own stories of triumph over injustice in the world as Papa’s chosen and beloved family.

God bless you this Christmas Season,

Marcus Young
Founder of Divine Inheritance