Scarlet Cord Ministries

If you have netflix consider it official. Go and add this to your instant que it is great.

Warning: this movie exposes you to the harsh reality of sex trafficking crimes happening in the US

I absolutely adore this movie. It is a great resource that keeps me on gaurd. I need a movie that is not going to sugar coat all these facts and statistics and a documentary that actually knows what is going on.

Very Young Girls walks people through girls lives. Victims tell people about their story. They tell us how it really is. Why and how they got into prostitution?I am going to be honest it is a little depressing.

My heart rips.

It rips for these girls who have no idea what love really is. But this pain fuels activity. It asks you a simple question… What are you going to do?

You can no longer claim ignorance about what is going on so are you going to actually do something or is that all talk. Will you justify these mens acts by not acting on behalf of the victim?

How will you respond?

As one of my favorite songs says, “this is what makes men great” It is a defining moment that is unavoidable. Will you demonstrate your character and be great or buckle under the pressure?

I really encourage you to watch the movie. It does bring hope in the end don’t worry. You may not be happy go lucky at the end but there is still hope. There is justice and recovery.

Did you see this movie? Are you gonna check it out?

As some of you may know I am an awkward person. There are a lot of uncomfortable topics that I jump into. (most of the time this is just blind bad luck)
Even if you look at what I am passionate about you can see it is uncomfortable. Yep no one really wants to talk about an 11 year old getting raped every night. but I go there anyways.
So here is the uncomfortable topic today…

insecurity

After studying the over all problem of sex trafficking I have seen that this disease that all women have has finally come back to haunt us.

How does this apply to sex trafficking?

Most girls who are lured into this crime is by a smooth talking guy who tells them they are beautiful.  He shows her that he cares for her and makes her feel good.  Now, she can tell all her friends she has an older boyfriend and he is a major hottie!

Our society tells girls that they will only really be beautiful if they have a boyfriend because if they don’t then obviously something is wrong with them if no guy even wants to be with them.

Our insecurity controls our actions. It causes us to do stupid stuff for fear that we may be the weird one who will lose their man or never have one.

This disease lures these girls into thinking that this man cares for them. They ignore any signs that he is using her and tell themselves they love him.

Insecurity has pushed girls to wear yoga pants instead of actual pants (to tight and weird jiggles)  We don’t have any standards but just want our man. This problem has been learned and passed down for centuries from mother to daughter and so on. It infects every beautiful girl from the minute she takes her first breath to the minute she breaths her last bread.

It must be stopped.  We must have confidence!

We can no longer succumb to this voice that says you will never be good enough or the voice that says you look really fat in that. We need someone willing to cut the crap and embrace the beauty that God has given us.

This generation needs role models willing to take an interest in our beauty. Parents who tell us that we are loved and support our ventures.

By having these confident women, men can learn how to be a real man. They can appreciate us for who we are rather than look at us as if we are just another person to have sex with.

It just takes one. One person who steps up and loves themselves.

Will you be that one person?

As you may know this blog is dedicated to helping raise awareness for victims of sex trafficking and if you don’t this is a blog about sex trafficking.
I admit I have been cheating a little bit and posting a lot of lessons that I have learned through out my life. Well this is not the end! I would like to inform you that I am moving. I would like for this blog to solely focus on the global problem of sex trafficking.
I am cutting the lessons I am learning that don’t really have to deal with sex trafficking and moving those lessons to kamriereed.com
So I encourage you to continue to follow scarlet cord ministries and also if you would like to you can specifically follow my story by checking out kamriereed.com (oh look yet another link)
Both blogs will be regularly updated and more categorized.
I ask that all of you continue to follow me on my journey!

I am the one getting my butt wopped

Back in the day I was a top notch wrestler… Yeah that is right, my siblings and I used to have our own official wrestling matches.

I was invincible.

All I had to do was give them a wedgy then it was over. They could consider themselves pinned.

But now it is not so easy. It seems that the game has changed. I can no longer pretend that a pillow is a chair anymore. I am in a battle to the death right now and my wedgy tacktic is not working as well as I hoped.

Who am I wrestling?

God

God and I have been in a tussle that has lasted for about two years. It hasn’t stopped.
I have cried, pleaded, and even bartered to get what I want in ministry and for the pain to stop, but I have yet to get my wish.

He keeps on allowing me to be punched straight in the gut which results in me standing there defenseless unable to absorb the heavy blow.

This fight is not staged like the WWE. It is a fight where emotions are tested, tried, and exposed. One feels like crap, but they keep going.

I continue to be pushed wondering if they can ever fight back.

I have always thought about Jacob’s wrestle with God. I can’t imagine how exhausted he was. God, confidently, knowing in the end he would win as Jacob barely held his own. He pushed himself to the point of exhaustion then finally God ends it and breaks his hip.

I can just hear Jacob now.  Wow thanks for that I wrestle you all night and I still break my hip.

Well this is where I am at. Fighting with much frustration, hurt, and a jumble of other emotions. Hoping that some day the fight will cease, and I may luck out by not walking away with a broken hip.

I am in process of working through the brokenness and this fight is an opportunity to grow closer to God..

How is your fight going?

Christmas Eve my parents and I ventured into St. Louis and had dinner with young teenage girls. We had a blast. All of the girls were hilarious and it was an evening well spent. I would like to describe one of the biggest things I learned from this event. Surprisingly, it was the short drive down that forced me to learn a hard lesson….

Dead silence.

Everyone sat in anticipation.

My mother in the front seat twittling her thumbs while my father slowly plunged through the snowy slush on highway 70.

I sat staring out the window podnering what this would be like. How would I interact with these young girls. Would I look like some little white rich kid stepping into their territiory. I tossed around a couple of jokes in my head then the silence hit me.

I carefully studied my mother. one word Nervous. I could see her surrender. I wondered why she was so antsy.

My dad continued to drive farther and deeper into the great city of St. Louis. We passed the large mansions that slowly became smaller and smaller mile by mile. Suddenly, I realized this is not the best part of town to live in. The streets were vacant but it was clear this part of the city was hidden for a reason.

During this 45 minute journey my blind fold was slowly unfolded before my eyes. Jesus words continued to haunt my mind. Similar to a knife they plunged deeper and deeper into my heart. For anyone to follow me they must hate their mother and father.

ouch.

How am I exactly supposed to do that. It was made clear on this short journey. For me to solely live for my father my life will not always be the safest.  (I am not saying that I am going to go do stupid stuff like put myself in risky situations I will be wise)

The life of Christ was not safe. He was ran out of so many cities. People threatened to kill him. Some times I think we all just glide on over this part. Consider the villagers in Frankenstien they had the intent to kill the beast not politely ask him to vacate the premises.

This is what it takes. The journey is slowly unfolding and the safety gloves are slowly coming off. They are not hastily ripped off but slowly I am traveling deeper and deeper into situations that flirt with that risky lines.  To watch my parents refraining from shoving in a box so that I may be safe for the rest of my life is quiet astounding. They have a remarkable amount of power.

But they worry. I see it in their half smiles. They wonder if it will ever suddenly stop and I will be no more.

Why do I do this?

because this is what it means to live life to the fullest. Trusting that my father will protect me.

This is what it means for me to hate my parents.

(M0re thoughts follow pertaining to the actual dinner.)

CNN  part 2

Denis Hoff, the owner of a legal brothel called Moonlight Bunny House, runs a legit business of prostitution in Nevada. Although he does enable women to sell their bodies for profit he does it all legally. The prostitutes there are all 18 years or older and are there on free will.  The women are able to keep half the profit and sometimes earn up to six figures. There are individual rooms for each woman equipped with a safety button the woman may push if a client is dangerous. Lyon said it was one of the safest places in terms of sex work. Even though I sharply disagree with the way Hoff chooses to enable prostitution he still maintains safety which is something that never happens in a brothel.
The public obviously sees nothing wrong with prostitution but I can only hope people may attempt to see what it is like for the mothers of these young girls. Lyon interviewed the mother of an underage victim of sex trafficking.
The mother said, “It is disgusting I think our whole society is so out of control with accepting this and saying it is okay or it is what it is. She is a child.”
One can not even fathom what it must be like for this mother. She has no idea what her daughter has been through, and she can not even think about what the future holds. How will she help her daughter heal from this trauma?
A victim of prostitution was also interviewed. She revealed a truth that could easily be our future if something is not done about sex trafficking.
The victim said, “Virginity was not an option where I came from. It was taken from you. So when you get into the game [prostitution] and you have someone telling you, you can sleep with them for money and you already lost your virginity why not. Sex is not as sacred as it once was.”
This woman was prostituted at the age of 13. She barely even hit puberty and was immediately robbed of her dignity.
How many girls must have the same fate until we act?

CNN part 1

I was recently able to watch a special CNN report entitled Selling the Girl Next Door. Amber Lyon reported on the growing crime of sex trafficking. She interviews the victims, relatives of victims, johns (people paying money for sex), a brothel owner, and went undercover as a young victim of sex trafficking. Lyon shows the girls behind all the make up and short skirts.
Lyon talks with a john who was given the opportunity to attend john school where he would learn about the truth about the person he savagely chose to degrade and demean.
The teacher of the class was Antwonet Welsh assistant district attorney.  She was originally an undercover cop who participated in undercover busts for prostitution. She was the fake prostitute. When asked about what type of men attend the session she gave this response:
“They are everybody, rich, poor, medium income, every ethnicity. They are married, single, or divorced. It is the most diverse crowd I have ever seen for any type of crime there is.”
The john was quick to accuse websites such as Craigslist or Backpage. He took little responsibility for his action and will most likely continue to buy people for sex. When Lyon confronted this man on the problem, he said, “I feel like I have an addiction. I think It is an escape and there is no strings attached.”
This perve was a normal 50 year old business man who just so happens to have a family at home, and he chooses to continue to defile young women. He is old enough to be their father!
The disappointing thing about the justice system is that johns can easily claim that the victim never told them they were a minor. Then the perpetrator is allowed to go to john school for a day while the victim is locked in a juvenile detention center for something that, technically, they can not even give consent to because they are a minor.
According to this john, he would be able to have sex with a person in a matter of 30 minutes. Technically, he could get a girl as quick as he gets a pizza. Taking this into consideration one must think how many girls are being sold every minute.

Since time is no longer a restraint, one can now have sex whenever they want. Like the john said, there are no strings attached it is a simple business transaction. This is made possible thanks to add websites such as Craigslist or Backpage.com.

Pimps have greatly taken advantage of this nearly free add space to sell their product.
Lyon said, “Backpage normalize the whole cause you go on you buy furniture you find a job and you buy a girl.”
The latest decision made by Craigslist to shut down their adult section was supposed to take care of this problem. However, the pimps have migrated to Backpage.com. This is shown through Backpage’s extreme increase of their profit. After all, it is not every day a companies advertisements increases by 1million dollars.

Pimps can easily work around the sites simple guidelines. The pimp refrains from nude pictures and fudges on the girls age by saying she is 18 when in reality she is only13. It is said that the pimp makes somewhere from 150 thousand to 500 thousand dollars a year off of these women and girls.
When the owner of Craigslist was confronted about their adult section, he had no rebuttal to the accusation. This shows how out of control sex trafficking really is. When one is on the Internet, they can be whoever they want to be. There is an extreme lack of discipline because the criminal could be anyone anywhere. It was already seen that shutting down the adult adds on one site is not going to stop the pimps. They will only move to another site.

People need to stop fighting with all of their big people words and choose to fight through their actions.

One thing that I really do love is a good old stained glass window. I am not really talking about the cheesy ones with a white Jesus  who has a small kid on his lap like Santa Clauss. I am into the unique ones that may not make sense at first or somehow show a message. The ones with an urban type of feel.

I was reading a blog post by Alece Rozino who blogs at gritandglory.com the other day which talked about being broken. Really give this blog a read because it is pretty great. even better than great actually.

Anyways. reading this post, of course, got me thinking. Thinking about…

Brokenness

Hurt

messiness my life holds

I have so many things that need to be worked on. I still have feelings that arises from an experience I had 4 or 5 years ago. These feelings always decide to come at the worst times too.

They explode in my heart at stupid random times when I am surrounded by people. It causes me to hold back the tears and lie to myself. Saying everything is going to be all right just relax.

I am a master at hiding things. somewhat. ok at least I think I am.

I walk around to holding this heart that has not healed but is still bleeding. I wonder if I will ever make it through this mess to come out alive with a clean heart.

Here is where the stained glass window comes into play:

Imagine all of these jagged pieces that you may have accumulated over time. Each person impacting you in a unique way. Sometimes pieces are smooth and a delightful growing experience. Then there is always those ever so painful experience that you grudgingly live through. They seem to take so long and may even look bigger than they really are. The pieces are rough, uneven, and not really your cup of tea.

In the end you will see it though.

These pieces tell your story.

They show the heartache and unbelievable joy.

They take ashes of destruction and come together to make this beautiful distinct piece of art. These pieces are mostly broken but together they are whole.

Wholly Broken.

Through tears of pain, we are all creating our master pieces. Slowly but surely, they are being formed piece by piece forming to become the next masterpiece. Through this image I find hope.

Are you on a jagged piece or smooth sailing piece? OR what type of stained glass window would you be?

I think I would have a crazy tree right in the middle of mine.

I have decided to drop the new years resolutions and go with one word that will outline the entire year. I am joining the one word for 2011 club.Basically you choose one word to live by for the entire year. For more info check out gritandglory blog. Go visit to join the party!

2011= Listen

This is going to be extremely hard because I talk a lot and sometimes people who are quiet may get lost in my “booming voice.” Ever since I was a kid I have talked. I was never the quiet one. In fact, my parents would punish me by telling me I could not talk to any one for the next 30 minutes (pure torture)!

An old person chose to give me there wisdom one day on my talking problem and said, “God gave me one mouth and 2 ears for a reason.” Thanks for the help.

Listen: concentrate on other’s stories instead of bitting at the bullet to tell them mine. (my definition)

This last year has been full of me sharing my passion and struggles with people who I don’t even know. I have had opportunities to talk to people and explain all of these things that God is doing in my life. It has been a great year, but my voice is getting a little hoarse. I need to give it a rest.

I have realized that this was a problem for me when I was talking with some one and could only think of what I would say next. I was not listening to what they were saying. All I said was yeah yeah yeah now lets talk about me.

I have to listen.

By listening it allows me to see God in others. I can see what he is doing in their life and realize that he has more than one daughter. I am not an only child in the family. God is working through tons of people not just me.

This year on the blog I would like to challenge people to allow me to listen. I may talk about something that is happening in my life, but I want these post to be conversation starters. You don’t have to just read any more. Tell me what is up or how you are struggling with the same thing.

My ears are ready and mouth closed.

What is your word or resolutions for 2011?