I’ve been concerned with the authority of God lately. Not as in concerned that He isn’t really THE authority, more concerned as in I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about it and how it affects my life. Maybe a better word would be intrigued, interested, consumed, but concerned is probably the most appropriate word to use. You see, if God really is THE authority then things about my life should be completely different. Not to say that I never believed God to be the authority, but maybe I’ve just never practiced it. You know, one of those head knowledge to heart knowledge kind of things; and maybe we could say I never really believed it because I was never acting on it. But a lot of this concerning comes from reading, of all things, the Bible; as N.T. Wright would say, the bible is concerned mostly with showing that God is the authority. And reading the bible, you tend to catch that. Most of what the authors are talking about is “God is the authority.”

A couple of weeks ago I went to Amsterdam on a mission trip; many of you know about this and even supported me (much thanks to all who prayed for us!) Amsterdam, as we all know, is the city of legal drugs, legal sex, legal homosexuality. Or legal homosexual marriage. I don’t think it’s illegal to be homosexual and I don’t think it ever should be. That’d be like making lying illegal, adultery illegal, coveting illegal, hating illegal; we’d all be illegals! On our trip we did a prayer walk through the Red Light District one day, and on another night Ryan and I accidentally stumbled into it for a few seconds. What gets me is that we always glorify Amsterdam’s legal sex/drugs like it is something great. Of course we as christians think it is a terrible thing because it is sin, but there was something else I stumbled across. It is the fact that christian and non-christian should hate legalized sex and drugs. Not just because it is sin; we should hate it because it is slavery.

Listen to me. Legalized drugs and sex is not bad because the bible says it is bad. Legalized drugs and sex is not bad because by doing it we commit adultery and influenced by another substance. Those are bad things; adultery is terrible and being influenced by a substance can lead to bad decisions. And yes, the bible says it is sin and we shouldn’t do it. But listen, the legalized sex and drugs is bad because it is slavery. Yes, slavery. I will admit that people are able to go to Amsterdam for a week, do all the drugs they want, sleep around as much as they want, and leave none the worse. But those women cannot leave; they are slaves to the sex industry and they don’t want to be there. The drug addicts in that city cannot leave; they are slaves to the drugs they’ve become addicted to and their lives are enslaved to another high. And there are sex addicts as well that cannot leave because they are enslaved to another orgasm (forgive me for being blunt). That is what struck me there. This is slavery. Christians and non-christians alike should despise such a thing.

I’ve told a couple of you recently that I’m looking for a new job and there is a reason for it; I do not want to just become aware of this and leave it. I have felt tugged to go to Amsterdam, to be a part of the fight against this slavery. I’ve decided, through much prayer, to join the ministry that YWAM is doing already and the first step towards that is their DTS. I cannot just ignore everything I saw over there. Sure, I may not be the best person for this kind of thing, but then again I’m sure Abraham Lincoln wasn’t the best person to end slavery in America, or William Wilberforce in England. But it seems it starts somewhere, and maybe God will merely use me as another person; I do not has thoughts of grandeur, of being like one of those men. But men they were and the abolition of slavery they were for.

And this is where the thoughts on the authority of God come in, because I’m not totally sure how this will work out. But it seems God is tugging at my heart and leading me to this. And I’m not totally sure when I’ll go; there is a school in January and also another in April (I believe). But if God is really behind this, and He is the authority, and I believe it to be true, then it seems He’ll be the one leading me and opening the doors that need to be opened. But I wanted you, my friends, to know about this for two reasons: first, so that you know about it and can pray for me; second, and maybe more selfish, if any of you knows of an opening somewhere full-time, maybe you could tell me? That’d be great.

So this is the commencing of Phase 3. Phase 1 involved telling my parents, letting them know first because they are my parents and I love them most. Phase 2 was telling my other family members because they are so very important to me. And now you, my friends, and any who happen to stumble upon this page and wish to know about a man named Cameron.

To sum it up, I have discarded all of my own wishes and desires and have taken up my cross and the will of God. And maybe when slavery is ended, I’ll sit down and think about myself, and maybe I’ll get to those things I always wanted to do like learn the cello.

Cameron