Daily Verse | Numbers 12:3
(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

Tuesday’s Reading: Numbers 13-16

Happy Tuesday my friends. I glossed over a couple of things yesterday that I thought I should say something about. First, I hope you had a Happy Valentine’s Day with your special someone(s). My wife and I host a small community group made up of neighbors on Monday night, so we did dinner out on Saturday night, then shared cards and gifts with each other yesterday.

Second, I did watch the Super Bowl on Sunday with my wife and some friends. I had no dog in that fight because I’m no longer watching the NFL which, as you know, has become a woke platform for rich elitist athletes to play a game that amounts to no more than a temporary diversion while they shame half the country for being white.

The half-time show was far from being the greatest. half. time. show. evahh. Frankly, I thought it sucked. I suppose the producers know their audience and it for sure wasn’t me.

I didn’t think the commercials were all that great. Usually there are some epic advertisements, but not this year. The Coinbase ad featuring a QR Code floating around the screen broke their app, so good for them.

I did hope Los Angeles would win for the simple reason that Matthew Stafford toiled away in Detroit for 12 years with no post-season to show for it, and in his first season with the Rams he leads them to the Super Bowl win. Great story—but I’m not paying attention to the league any more than that.

However.

While at church Sunday morning, one of our members gave an update on work he’s been doing for years that includes working with the FBI to rescue victims of sex trafficking. This year he was back in his home city of Los Angeles ahead of the Super Bowl, an event which apparently attracts the worst in humanity.

Partnering with the FBI, the Los Angeles police, and some ex-gang members who were his best friends growing up, this man helped rescue nearly 500 victims of sex trafficking, the youngest of whom were 11-years-old, and of whom more than 60 were boys. They also arrested more than 700 johns.

Our friend is a tattoo artist who covers up the tattoos that the pimps put on their “property.” Did you know that some pimps tattoo bar codes on their victims so that if they are found by another pimp, the bar code can simply be scanned and it calls up all the information on the victim? Then that pimp calls the owner pimp and they discuss whether the victim should be returned, sold to the finder, or “disappeared.”

Sometimes the pimp tattoos the phrase “Property of …” and adds his name, figuring that the victim will never bodily get away and, if they do, they will never mentally get away from physical brand left on their flesh.

It’s sick.

But it’s also closer to home than you might think. One report says

that between 15,000 to 50,000 women and children are forced into sexual slavery in the United States every year, and the total number varies wildly as it is very difficult to research. One study from the Department of Health and Human Services estimated the number between 240,000 and 325,000, while a report from the University of Pennsylvania put it at between 100,000 and 300,000.

Trafficking happens at hotels, motels, truck stops and online and at major events.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 10,000 prostitutes were brought to Miami for the 2010 Super Bowl. Similar reports have been made about the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The gathering of large groups of people, as well as tourists’ willingness to spend money, is what makes these large events so lucrative for traffickers.

Hey, maybe instead of caving to the whining about how players are being “enslaved” by playing for white owners and taking a knee for perceived injustices during the national anthem, the NFL could sink some of their billions into rescuing kids who are actually enslaved and sold for sex during the biggest sporting event of the year, which just happens to be the NFL’s event.

Or nah?

Thank God for the men like our friend who does the hard work of helping find where these kids are being trafficked so they can be rescued.