So I’m up late (as usual) writing, seeking God, poking around in my Bible. I ask God to show me something, whatever He wants. I turned to Job 19 and read his complaint to his friends; read his plea for them to stop blaming him for all his troubles.
Now we know that Job was upright and blameless…that the devil approached God with a challenge: ”If you let me strike him and rip his life apart, Job will curse you.” Poor Job…God took the challenge and allowed the devil to just shatter his world.
So Job’s friends, family and acquaintances add to the torment and BLAME Job. Oh, WHAT a lucky man of God! He must have felt SO confused! A man serving God, blessed, faithful…and then…WHAM! Life goes from heavenly to horrible in the blink of an eye.
I hear “Job’s Girls” in my head and find myself wondering how many people (IN the church) have that same mindset toward runaway teens who get sucked in by a pimp?
“Well! If they’d just been obedient to their parents…this wouldn’t have happened to them!”
“Serves ‘em right for running away in the first place.”
“Prostitutes could leave their pimps if they REALLY wanted to…they must like their life of sin more than they like freedom. You can’t deliver someone from the devil who doesn’t WANT to be delivered, you know.”
Statistics show that teen runaways usually get approached by pimps and traffickers WITHIN 48 HOURS of leaving home. These animals know EXACTLY what they’re looking for and are constantly on the hunt for innocent kids to lure into their evil nets. 
A woman at YouthCare in Seattle told me years ago, “Kids who come from good homes — kids who are just being rebellious — usually stay on the streets no longer than a week. They realize pretty darn quick that they’ve made a mistake. The kids who stay? Well, they don’t have a good home to go back to…no one wants to sleep in alleys behind a dumpster.”
Think about that next time you’re tempted to think badly about the girls (and boys) who get sucked into a life of sex; a life of horror and abuse by adult predators. Think of Job.
So Young: Oakland Combats Underage Prostitution
Just across the Estuary, Oakland is trying to reduce the number of teenage girls who are on the street and controlled by pimps. First in a series; watch for more stories this week.
Juvenile prostitution has reached epidemic proportions in Oakland, according to Sgt. Holly Joshi, a spokeswoman for the department who spent three years with Oakland’s vice and child exploitation unit.
Nearly all the girls on the streets are controlled by pimps who claim their earnings. Many start as early as age 12 or 13.
They therefore aren’t really prostitutes; they are commercially sexually exploited youth, Joshi says.
“Underage kids can’t give consent to have sex, let alone sell it,” Joshi said.
Federal law classifies recruiting minors for prostitution as a form of human trafficking, meaning they’re understood to be victims of both civil rights violations and violent crime, such as statutory rape and other sex crimes.
Most of the girls recruited for prostitution come from single-parent homes and have been physically or sexually abused, according to service providers with Alameda County.
Ever since commercial sexual exploitation of youth was identified as a major problem in Alameda County about 10 years ago, public officials have responded with progressive policies that recognize the girls as victims; aggressive prosecution that has put pimps away for life; and regional collaborations that have become models for other cities.
But experts agree that trafficking of minors is so low-risk and so lucrative for the pimps that growth of the criminal enterprise is outpacing legal and law enforcement developments — even in Alameda County, where a decade of awareness has led to prevention, suppression and rehabilitation techniques that are considered the national gold standard. >> Read Full Story Here
