Tuesday night we encountered a girl who was probably 14; last night the two women I talked with in a bar were both in their 40’s. One woman is trying to pay off a debt of over $10,000 left to her by her husband. She is considering an offer to go work in Korea since working two jobs is getting her no closer to debt reduction. The second woman was an accountant for many years but lost her job. She went to beauty school but had to drop out when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. The young 14 year old is of course, disturbing and quickly summons sympathy. It is also really sad to see older women working in the bars. It’s much harder to get a job later in life and the responsibilities are so many more. I know God’s heart breaks for each and every one who is caught in the bondage of prostitution, whether they are 14 or 40. Prostitution is destructive to the soul, period. We need to address the circumstances that cause a 14 year old to run away from home and the circumstances that leave a mother with no options to take care of her 14 year old other than to sell herself in prostitution. The issues are complex but unless we look at every side we will leave gaps in systems where the desperate will fall far too easily into the traps of sexual exploitation. God’s eyes are still roaming the earth (Isaiah) looking for someone to intervene. Thank God there are now many who are intervening, but there are still not enough. We can each make a difference starting in our neighborhoods and supporting those who are intervening. We can all afford to do something; what we can’t afford to do is nothing.