A Blind Eye

Sometimes it's easier to turn a blind eye.  After all, ignorance is bliss, right?  So we fidget on our phones or in our purses at stoplights, pretending we don't see the person begging there. We avert our gaze from the homeless person under the bridge and just go about our business.  I'm not judging; I do it too.  I rationalize it by telling myself that I can't save everyone, that people make choices and sometimes those choices have dire consequences, and it isn't my fault if...and blah, blah, blah.  

As a matter of fact, I did this just last night, when I got discouraged.  You all know that the piece of land that adjoins the piece I just bought for LI is up for sale, and a coyote wants it. (A coyote is a person who preys on people living in poverty, charging them an outrageous sum to take them to the states illegally to pursue the great American dream.  These people essentially become his slaves until they can pay him back.  If they get stopped and deported, they still have to pay the coyote or he takes everything they have.  Sometimes drugs and human trafficking are also involved.) Mr. Coyote recently got "detained" by the police in Guatemala City with 8 illegals, so now his plan is to reroute people through Huehue, into Mexico, and on into San Antonio. The land that's for sale is 5 minutes off the main highway, and right in the middle of a poor community where he can prey on more desperate people.  He wants to build a holding place for people in transit and put in a mini casino where locals can drink and gamble. I am pretty anxious to thwart that evil plan, but I need about $25K and have about $10K.  So last night I decided that maybe God was closing the door, and I needed to adjust to the idea of having this guy right next door.  It makes me sick to think of it....walking by there every day, watching people throw away what little money they have drinking and gambling, wondering what's happening to the people inside the warehouse.. if there's someone in there against their will, if they're also storing drugs in there...but I had convinced myself that maybe I'd just have to turn a blind eye to it all and focus on the ministry center. That is, until I called two good friends who were willing to be honest with me and tell me that I was giving up too soon...that when God closes a door, He doesn't just gently close it, He slams it, and He hasn't done that yet...that it's not my place to give Him a timeline...and to TRY HARDER. Today I'm thanking God for these two friends of mine, and I'm ready to try again!

See, I really don't think it's ok to turn a blind eye to this.  And I think God agrees with me. This is what He has to say about it: 

If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength!  Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering towards slaughter.  If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not He who weighs the heart perceive it?  Does not He who guards your life know it?  Will He not repay everyone according to what they have done?  (Proverbs 24)

There are three types of people mentioned in those verses:  those who are being led away to destruction, those going of their own free will, and those who know it and pretend they don't. I don't want to be in any one of those three groups! It is true that the area of Santa Barbara where I work is full of coyotes, bars, and narco-traffickers. I know where some of the bars are, and I can guess who the coyotes and narcos are, but I don't know for sure.  It's not right under my nose, and it isn't something I can stop. But this one guy--this one piece of property--this one potential evil--we CAN do something about. And I think we should.  We can't sit back and pretend we don't know what will go on there. So until the day that God slams that door shut and someone else signs the deed to that land, I'm going to keep trying to raise the money to buy it for Loving InDeed and do something positive with it.  So many of you are praying about this, and I'm so grateful!  This is spiritual warfare, and "the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." Please don't stop! And so many of you have already generously donated to this effort.  I can't thank you enough. Ask any missionary anywhere what they dislike the most about their job, and they'll tell you fundraising.  I know that asking for donations is offering people the chance to be a part of something they usually can't physically be a part of--to join God in the work He is doing around the world--to store up treasure in Heaven...but the asking is still hard.  It's probably a pride thing, honestly.  But I want you to know that I'm contributing my own money to this effort too.  I believe that buying this out from under the coyote is the right thing to do.  I believe God will supply what we need.  And I believe that when God said that "he who is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his deed," He means it.   Every little bit helps!  And while we down here will never be able to pay you back, God can, and He will.  

Donations can be made by going to www.cten.org/lynnannmurphy and clicking on the donate button. I'd also love to hear from those of you who are praying about this.  I need all the encouragment I can get these days!