graceless space

as i look at the childhood pictures of dear friends, my eyes brim with tears ... tears for the pain suffered as children forced into prostitution and tears for the pain suffered today — knowing there are photographs, fearing that someday the images will surface.

Child pornography is escalating. Explicit content of younger victims is becoming increasingly available and graphic. Online child pornography communities frequently trade content for free and reinforce behavior. Offenders often consider their participation a "victimless crime." — Urban Institute [read the abstract]

as i look at my sleeping grandson, my eyes brim with tears ... tears for the pain that will inevitably come into his life, the struggles, the disappointment, the hard knocks life on this earth inevitably hands us. most on my heart is grief and fear, that this baby still in diapers will likely be exposed to pornography between kindergarten and third grade. 

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord your God..."

— Isaiah 43:1-3 NIV excerpt

grief and fear within me, a heart hardened, graceless space

Rjw