I'm excited, no doubt. Tony and I are going to run this race and we are going to finish strong.

Some pre-marathon thoughts:

• I need to be hydrating constantly today and into tonight so my body has enough fluids to start the race.
• I've been eating lots of carbs lately--wheat bread and pasta and noodles and such. I won't be overdoing the carb-loading tonight.
• Note to self: no fibers today. Roughage = digestive tract activity = really bad on race day.
• I'm visualizing the course and watching course videos. Also checking out the map and making mental notes.
• When will I hit The Wall? What are my strategies to get through it? I have no idea.
• San Francisco is beautiful. I am stoked.

I just found out that my friend Alvin is the lead cyclist on my wave--how cool is that?!

Fundraising update!

Today is the LAST DAY of fundraising for the International Justice Mission! To-date, we've raised over $650 -- great job, everyone! Let's make good on the goal of $1000. Find out how we're doing, or just go donate now! »

Again, if you're interested, keep up to date on my pre- and post-race thoughts in my Twitter feed.

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1. On the SF Marathon: A thank you, some more thoughts, and photos to top it off Before we begin, let me say THANK YOU to all of you who’ve con­tributed to...
2. The race has been run and my kneecaps did not explode What a feel­ing: cross­ing the fin­ish line at 26.2 under the Bay Bridge in incred­i­ble...
3. I’m running a marathon. My bud­dies Matt, Josiah, Tony and I had been talk­ing about run­ning a marathon ever...

Support us as we run for the IJM! I've opened up a donation link through an application called Causes. You can go ahead and donate via credit card as shown:

Donate to the cause online! »

We hope to hit our fundraising target of $1000 by race day (August 3rd). That's only NINE days away. I'll be keeping you updated as the days go by. Keep track of the cause via Facebook. Spread the word; let's do this.

Love yuh,
-Andrew

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2. One day before the race I’m feel­ing a mix of antic­i­pa­tion and excite­ment (“wow! a real marathon!” “wow! SF is...
3. Running for IJM Part I: Who they are and why I care The Inter­na­tional Jus­tice Mis­sion is a Chris­t­ian orga­ni­za­tion that fights modern-day human traf­fick­ing. I’m going...

I answered to the effect that 1) it was the first organization that my friends had mentioned to me regarding human trafficking and 2) I have an older friend who worked there a couple of years ago.

I want to follow that up with a third reason: IJM "exist[s] within the Christian community and [attempts] to rekindle the social engagement of evangelical Christians."

I want to clarify this a little bit. I believe that causes to social ends can and usually should be supported regardless of their affiliation. There are perfectly great organizations that do great work. However, as a Christian, I must admit I am partial to supporting folks who have the same framework for social action as I.

I believe that a Gospel-centered Christian framework leads to social action

Christians believe that all of us are sinners and slaves. This applies to us in a moral and a physical sense. We're deeply broken (far from inherently good). We're chained to sin. We're chained to materialism. We're chained in forced prostitution. We're chained in abusive relationships. We're chained in oppressive social structures.

Jesus suffered, and can thus identify with the suffering. He was poor and homeless. Jesus was mocked and suffered an excruciating death. Jesus was "wounded," "crushed," "afflicted," "oppressed".

God is about justice. There's a passage in the Gospels that tell of Jesus proclaiming the beginning of his ministry as he enters the temple and reads from the Scriptures:

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound..." Isaiah 61:1-3 (ESV)

God's heart (and by extension, Jesus') is right there with the "poor," the "brokenhearted," the "captives"!

Jesus claimed to be God himself, accomplishing God's mission on earth: salvation and redemption (whether that is a ridiculous claim or not is a separate and interesting discussion!). That's the point of the Gospel itself: that there is a new order. The Kingdom of God is rapidly advancing and it means Good News to sinners & slaves.

I know I'm in theological deep waters here and there are a lot of things left untouched and unspoken. Feel free to question me or ask for elaboration on anything and we can start a conversation.

Personally, experiencing Grace lends me to action

My friend once told me her experience working with social justice causes on the Berkeley campus, noting how many activists work out of bitterness or anger, letting entitlement or hurt be their motivation to act on social change. Some activists work out of a rosy desire to change the world, believing in the power of the human spirit.

In the end, she noted, it can be tiring and frustrating because these actions lead to a focus on the self, sapping energy from the self and allowing results to dictate one's effectiveness and worth.

I believe that Christian activists are different. Christians believe that God activates social movements. When Christians see God's ultimate plan for restorative peace and justice--Heaven on earth, no less, they get excited.

(Of course, there are criticisms of faith-based initiatives. I encourage you to read "Jails for Jesus," a Mother Jones article spotlighting the effects of a faith-based program in a Kansas prison.)

I'm just getting started. I've got to be honest with you: six months ago, I barely cared. It's easy to get caught up in yourself and the small minutae of your life.

A little while ago, I got thinking of the Big Picture of my life. If my faith in Jesus is well-founded, then my belief of what the Kingdom of God looks like needs to expand. Jesus' death and resurrection means Grace and forgiveness for me, and freely given to every living being on the planet, captive or free.

What does Grace look like to a woman kept under sickly terror by her pimp?

What will justice be to a American executive who visits the driving range three times a week?

The answer to both questions is one and the same. The ultimate Judge who promises Justice came to earth to redeem the past, present and future. And in reflection of Jesus' revolutionary life, death and resurrection and the new framework of Redemption, I feel ever more the freedom (and the driving impulse) to act.

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The modern-day slave trade

Last semester, a few friends of mine taught a DeCal course on "The Modern Slave Trade". I had the privilege of attending one of their sessions on modern-day sex trafficking, its roots and how it rears its ugly head today. On that day and through some subsequent research, I learned:

• Women and children of little-to-no-education are the most common victims of the slave trade.
• There are 1.2 million child sex slaves, according to UNICEF. That's just the children.
• The sex trade depends on visibility. Thus, one solution is simple: prosecute hard, drive it underground and starve it.
• It could start with kidnapping: drugged food or drinks. It could start with deception: a promise of a better job in another city.
• Deception is key: you could be tricked by somebody you trust.
• Victims often become perpetrators in this twisted world
• Slavery can be fought with education

In the course of that session, we watched an NBC Dateline episode that sent a crew with a hidden camera along with IJM investigators to bust a sex trafficking operation in Cambodia. A brief summary of that episode:

Why I care

I was feeling all sorts of things after watching the video: shock, utter disgust and anger. I think what particularly riles me about this issue is the utter helplessness of the victims and the cruelty of the perpetrators. What is even more disgusting is how rampant human trafficking is today (it's in our own backyard, for heaven's sakes: Raj Properties, anybody?).

The heartless exploitation of another human being is something that we should hate with a passion. We should despise it, condemn it, get all riled-up when we hear of it. But we can't stay there; we need to do something about it.

There's more to come

I haven't told you yet how I plan to fundraise for this cause. There's some plan to do some online fundraising, as well as some sort of word-of-mouth work I'd love to have you involved in. I hope to continue writing to further flesh out my thoughts and feelings about this heavy topic.

But I'll open this up for discussion: what are your thoughts about human trafficking?

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1. Running for IJM Part III: How you can help Sup­port us as we run for the IJM! I’ve opened up a dona­tion link...