She died a few days ago

This story is what keeps me from plunging deep into the business world. I've GOT to do something about this:


I AM Katelyn At the age of 16, bleeding, broken, stabbed and HIV positive, "I ran, but this time I guess I just didn't run fast enough," said Katelyn, a child sex slave.

Captured and raped at the age of eight from Moldova, Katelyn and her younger sister were forced into a trunk, taken to London, and then shipped to America where she was forced into prostitution. Overnight Katelyn went from living a life defined as a daughter and a sister to a life exploited by an international prostitution ring.

Based on tradition, if Katelyn had returned to Moldova, a small country between Russia and Romania, she would have been thrown into prison or killed. Marked as trash, her only option was to continue with the one who captured her.

Told that if she behaved well she would not be beaten or deported, Katelyn was made a fake ID and handed papers granting her access into America, and furthermore stripping from her the innocence of her childhood. At this point the joy of living life turned into the uninvited struggle for survival.

Katelyn said it was then that she learned her first lesson about life; it's all about survival. Somehow finding the strength to fight and the ability to perform as they wished, Katelyn continued on, but her sister didn't; she was killed.

Katelyn continued to perform her tasks and meet her quotas, which kept her pimp from beating her. "I got really good at it," she said. "That's when he sent me on trips to Canada and Mexico to work."

After about 5 years, of traveling and performing sexual duties in different cities, Katelyn was relocated to Atlanta in 2006 to live and work exclusively. While in Atlanta, she contracted HIV, turning her into a poor commodity for her pimp. It was then that the beatings began. "I can't tell you how many fractures and bruises I have had over the eight years I have been in this country", Katelyn said. "But most importantly, I've always managed to survive."

With little faith in herself, given her situation, the one thing she believed she could do was run. After several attempts at escaping, which always led to bruises and broken bones, Katelyn heard the walls crying out for her.

Etched into a bathroom wall in a shelter where she stopped to clean herself were the words GET OUT NOW followed by an 800 number. "God I wanted to get out," Katelyn said. "I was tired of digging into garbage cans for food and going to shelters to bathe."

The call was made, her path for freedom was discovered and she was ready to run, but she didn't know how far she would get. After speaking with the woman on the other end of the phone, Katelyn felt encouraged and redirected toward freedom.

A mere 5'4 and 82 pounds, Katelyn was sick and frail, yet she was determined to survive. Beginning her three-day journey across three states with no food, Katelyn found herself exchanging sexual deeds for bus tickets.

Along her journey she was beaten and stabbed, but that didn't stop her from running. Survival was her goal and the only way she knew how to achieve it was to run.

Just three hours away from the recovery home and about to board her last bus to freedom, the bus driver realized Katelyn was sick, and instead of allowing her to board the bus, he sent for medical help. Help that she desperately needed, yet time that she couldn't spare.

In fear and urgency, she escaped and continued to run. After phoning her rescuer she was informed that help was only 20 minutes away. For the next 20 minutes Katelyn ran faster than she ever had. "I had to get to her [the recovery director]," she said. "But most importantly I had to get away from him."

In those 20 minutes right before her help arrived, Katelyn's journey for survival came to a tragic end; her pimp caught her for the last time. Keeping her captive in a car and beating her, he broke her collarbone, both legs and her jaw before leaving her in a dumpster. "I ran as fast as I could," she said. "I really did. I am so sorry, but I couldn't run fast enough."

Upon the discovery of her body in the dumpster where she was left to die, she was returned to the hospital where she passed away 8 hours later. In her last words to the woman that was coming to rescue her she said. "Whatever you do, please don't forget me."

On February 2nd, just a week before her 17th birthday, a Memorial service will be held in Katelyn's honor at 2 PM at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

Strung together by the thread of remembrance, community leaders, politicians, celebrities, not-for profit organizations and the media will gather in conjunction with the community to honor a life spent running for survival.

No longer will her running be in vain. Although her physical survival is no longer possible, her heroic attempt to escape child sex trafficking will now be seen as footsteps for all those who feel too weak to run.

www.innocenceatlanta.org

What if...

is a great song by the band everyone likes but no one will admit to it: Creed.

Anyways, what if I didn't give one more thought to finding a wife or what job I will be at in the future or what I want to do with my life...

What if I just pursued the furthering of God's Kingdom and knowing Him...and that was it. Would my other needs still be met? I am so convinced they wouldn't be, but what if they actually were? Holy cow, what an amazing God He would be.

White people? Racists???

Monster Truck Rally...two memorable stories (if you have already taken care of your family, friends, and church, and therefore have time on your hands to read this)

1) I shall paint the scene from my January 12th evening: Monster Truck Rally, 75,000 people, 80% rednecks. Tommy and I stood in line chatting in the midst of a stand-still crowd waiting to enter the arena.........in a thick British accent. We were as loud and as British as we could make believable. People around us turned to look, confused and wondering what we were doing there. One of those pranks you pull for your own enjoyment....very enjoyable indeed.

2) After the event, as thousands boarded MARTA, I had to get on a crowded bridge that connected the Dome to the MARTA Station. 15' beneath us were tons of black homeless people waiting for people to toss down any amount of money or charity. So many of the rednecks on the bridge standing next to me taunted and mocked the homeless people below: "McDonald's is hiring!", "Here's a cigarrette...go fetch it niggers!" "Want some change? (fake throw) Hahahahaha". I have never wanted to beat the crap out of somebody so bad in my life. If there wasn't so many people around, I would have picked a fight, probably would have lossed, but at least hurt them in the process which would have been enough to satisfy me. Every black person I ran into the rest of that evening, I felt like I was one of them, on their side, against the naive redneck bastards who think God loves them more. My opinion of racism and all it's exaggerations and it's false accusations has changed.

Charlie bit my finger

I laughed a solid 40 seconds. Can youtube videos get any cuter? I submit they cannot. Please prove me wrong. I will now name my child Charlie and/or speak only in a British accent for the first 2.5 years of his/her life (more to come on british accents later).

"Chick-i-fied dudes"

I wrote a letter to Whitaker House Publishing. I haven't sent it yet, but here it is. Let me know if you see any modifications that would be helpful. I was inspired to write this based on my great Christmas present to my right and the video posted here.





Dear Whitaker House,
I am concerned about the Kingdom....not about being right, not about making a fuss about my preferences, but the Kingdom that Jesus is about. I know you all care about the same thing; so in light of that, I want to share a concern with you that I hope you will consider:

My mom gave me a great present for Christmas: Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon (printed by your company). The book is amazing, but what bothered me was its appearance. It is not a book geared towards one gender or the other; nor does it have study notes or commentary geared toward specifically males or females. Yet, the cover of the book was purple, pink, and gold, with a feminine font. Now honestly, I couldn’t care less about having a book that looks masculine or feminine; if it’s good, I’ll read it regardless without a thought about what it looks like. So why would I care about how it looks? Am I a sexist or one who wants his manhood affirmed? Neither. Here’s why this bothers me, why this issue must be discussed and prayed over, why this is worth my time trying to muster writing skills together to compose something that does not return void:

The number 1 demographic that does not attend church: males ages 18-35. Honestly, it makes sense. So many churches (if I may borrow/paraphrase some words of pastors Mark Driscoll, Anthony Bradley, and primarily Matt Adair) portray a feathered hair Jesus who wears a dress and talks in a fruity voice with a touchy/feely vibe. No wonder they feel weird following this guy. Men are looking for a hero, not a girlfriend. The church in 21st century America is largely failing to connect men to what they were created for, what men were created to fight for and stand for, and connect them to the greatest adventure this world has ever seen. The church and the church’s Jesus has become somewhat irrelevant to most men. Which is sad, because Jesus and His Kingdom is anything but irrelevant. Men need to be shown that this Jesus of the Scriptures is a blue-collar guy who swung a hammer for a living and is coming back one day like a UFC fighter with fire blazing in his eyes to fix and conquer everything that’s wrong with today’s world. The feel you get when you walk in to most Christian book stores and most Evangelical churches is anything but having to do with this Jesus. You have to admit this at least isn’t the most ideal situation. I believe your intentions and pursuits as a company are honorable and God-fearing. However, please consider that your unnecessarily feminine book covers may not be helping the issue at hand. The feminine appearance suggests that men wouldn’t care what’s inside. Or worse, (I understand, yet wish it wasn’t the case) that we will make more money if we market it to females. Which may be currently true; but if we want Christianity to impact all aspects of our culture, including the men, we can't act like masculinity is a sin and that men and Christianity don't mix. That’s why I want to bring this to your attention. Not to make you feel guilty but to hopefully shed light on some problems in our church and how you can at least help minimize them. I’d love to know your disagreements and thoughts. Thank you for hearing mine. Would we both set aside our preferences, traditions, and agendas to seek what is best for our God. To Christ be the Glory.

Martin Davis