“We’ve got to rise up. Open our eyes up. Be her voice, be her freedom. Come on, Stand up!” ~ Matt Redman

You might not have noticed that I didn’t post a human trafficking update on the 21st this month. I waited until TODAY for a very special reason. Today, the new single, “Twenty Seven Million” was released on itunes in the US. It was released yesterday in Europe, and quickly became Number 4. Why all the hype about a song? Music shapes culture. It shapes people. I can be moved to tears by a song, led into worship by a song, made to laugh, or even get angry by a song. (There’s some really bad music out there.) The leaders at the A21 Campaign know the influence music has, and decided to leverage that influence by producing a song to raise awareness of the over 27 million people, (mostly female) who are right now in the very real bonds of slavery.

In the past, when I heard the word, “slavery” unwanted thoughts would come to mind of how black people were once owned as slaves here in the US. Also thoughts of how the people of Israel were forced into slavery by the Egyptians, Babylonians and others came to mind.  But never, no never did I ever think of the slavery that goes on right now. Today. Never before did I realize that there are more people enslaved today that ever before in history. How did we let this happen? I thought society had come much farther than that. Aren’t we above this? Apparently not. While we have been asleep at the wheel, millions of our daughters and sisters have been stolen or tricked into a life of sex slavery with no hope of escape.

Often problems of this magnitude overwhelm us. We think, “I am one person, what can I possibly do to change what is happening?” We tell ourselves that we can’t do anything. Hope that maybe someone else with more money, or time, or influence is hearing about it and helping. We shake our heads and talk about how awful it is, and what a shame it is. Then we move on to the next thing we have to do.

Maybe as one person, you can’t do much. Except for today. Today you can buy the song. What can buying one song on iTunes do? The song rose to Number 4 yesterday in Europe. People notice that. It makes them curious. Because of the song’s popularity there, more people bought it to see what all the attention was about. More people became aware of what is going on right in their back yards. Somebody with more time, more money, and more influence became aware of the plight of 27 million women worldwide, and now they are going to join the fight. All because tons of people bought a song for $1.25.

I think Americans can do better than the Europeans. I think Americans are more compassionate than Number 4. It will take less than five minutes of your time and only a buck and a quarter. The song is really good. I listened to it seven times in a row and cried every time. I’m going to post the video here. Please still buy the song.

The video was filmed at the Passion Conference at the Georgia Dome. 42,000 college students raised $3 million dollars for an organization called Not For Sale and their fight against human trafficking. Alone, we can do little. Together, we can change the world.