Undaunted Bryan Y, Calvin H, Jonathan J, Ryan C, Vincent H

Chapter 8 - Awakened

After a long and tiring journey, especially to a warzone, everyone would want to take a long,
relaxing rest. But when we are indulging in our own desires, people with less privilege than us
all around the world might not be relaxing at all. People born in war, experiencing endless
drought and despair. We are all part of a race, the human race, yet we are all so disconnected
from each other.

Being able to talk to God, much less hear God, is an amazing experience. He tells you your
purpose, what you can do, and much much more. Through Christine (the author), she has advised
us to connect with everyone else. Reach out to them. The board has been set for us. Globalisation
has made the network of information wide, allowing us to be aware of the situation in
unreachable places. Social media and the internet are the only tools we need to further our
understanding of others’ pain and suffering, so why not do it?

The prophet Isaiah says: “Arise, shine, for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is
risen upon you. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but
the LORD will arise over you. And His glory will be seen upon you” (Isaiah 60:1–2 NKJV).
God’s glory is upon us. It can break through the darkest night. It is in us ready to burst out and
overwhelm the darkness. This is what light does. It makes the darkness disappear. It edges out
the black, overtakes it, gobbles it up, and eats it away. That is why God brings us each new
morning. But although the light and the power are God’s, he wants us to partner with him in
bringing light into the dark places where oppressors try their best to shut people away in
darkness.

We can get worn down by the needs in this world, God knows. We need sleep, restoration,
recuperation. That’s why God gives us the end of a day, and he wants us to rest. Working
ourselves into a frenzy over all there is to do is not freedom. It is enslavement. But we are not
slaves; we are free. And we have been freed for a purpose: to share what we’ve been given. God
has given us the light; now it’s our time to give it. Together, we can combat the darkness that
threatens this world, forever and ever.

Chapter 10 – Facing Giants

Christine arrives in Greece, and receives a call from her husband in the busy airport. Her
husband Nick revealed the opposition he had met from the experts who were supposed to help
him and Christine to start an international nongovernmental organization to combat human
trafficking focusing on Eastern Europe, nicknamed A21.

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The factors working against them were corruption, the absence of strict laws to protect the rights
of victims, reluctance of the victims themselves to testify against their abductors, and the
criminal networks that have penetrated all areas of society, the legality of prostitution, and the
lack of awareness of human trafficking, and finally the sky high costs of the actual operation.

It is safe to say that that list does not end there. Even beyond the difficulties that the author had
mentioned, it is easy to imagine the other challenges that they would have to face. They were
taking upon a virtuous task in a very hostile and immoral part of society, that was real
nonetheless. All the odds were against them.

Despite the insurmountable diffculties that the experts had laid out to them, Christine decided to
carry on with the project anyway. She explained that the experts had misunderstood her - she
asked them how it could be done, not if it could be done. She likens the odds she faced with
those that David faced when he fought Goliath. “God is with us (Romans 8:31). God is in the
business of making miracles where humans fail (Hebrews 13:5–6). God told us to go into all the
world (Matthew 28:19–20), and he’d shown me a part of the world so dark and hidden I hadn’t
even known it was there, and he was not letting me forget it.”

Not long after, an airport announcement blared, telling passengers on Aegean Airlines to board
the plane on gate A21. Her gate number was the name of the organization she was about to
establish. Christine took this as divine reassurance, a sign from God. With that she was sure God
was with her on this.

God is always with us and always making a way for us to do his will, to bring his hope and
change into this world. But there’s so much temptation to think otherwise, we tend to say to
ourselves:“Stay where you are. Don’t risk rejection. There are too many unknowns!”. Difficulty
loves to sing about hurdles that have been around since the beginning of time. God made a way
for the children of Israel; when Difficulty had been telling them that there was no way, God
brought them into the Promised Land. God made a way for them again and again, for more than
forty years. Don’t let Difficulty keep you from daring to go where God wants you to go. God
will make a way.

Christine proceeds to compare her situation with that of Moses in Numbers 13:28, 32, when he
sent twelve scouts to scout the land of giants. Only two understood their mission. Nick and her
were in the same situation, they needed scouts with vision, not excuses. When Difficulty pops up,
God wants us to see and hear something more—something beyond the difficulty. Two of the
scouts, Joshua and Caleb, did that. Instead of looking just at what was in front of them, they kept
their eyes on God, who was higher and bigger. They saw what God could do. Ten of the men
only saw what Difficulty said they could not. Then, as now, obeying God required getting past
the giants.
You must always take a first step, and then another, and another. When God said go, you get the
permission to start your step, and you MUST start making progress. Christine and Nick felt they

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were chosen by God to start the A21, though experts said it was impossible that they had no
supplies, food and weapons. But they decided to get past the giants and ignore what the experts
said, they put faith in God and started the A21 anyway. For they have put their faith in God, with
God all things are possible as they would trust in that promise.

The greatest giants they faced was spiritual ones, Difficulty. Discouragement. Detours caused by
a lack of confidence or pride or fear. But as Moses and Joshua and Caleb learned, those giants
are best slain by a talk with God, petitioning and praising Him, listening to Him as of Numbers
14. Prayer allows you to knock Difficulty, you can’t compare the power of prayer to any else.
With this, nothing is impossible.

They faced impossible challenges, at least in the vision of the experts. For example, funding,
power and lack of confidence. There was nothing Christine could do, unless to pray to God.
There was nothing else to do. As God listens to their prayer, the lawyer finally signed the
agreement to support the A21 and surprisingly the lawyer was passionate about it.

Difficulty soon landed on them once again, this time with funding troubles. They couldn’t
believe it. They’ve prayed for help, but ridiculously, God didn’t give them only what they
needed, God gave them everything more than enough. God have always made a way according
to his plans for the A21. God has led the A21 into safety.

Her problems didn’t end there. She wanted to help victims from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan. But she didn’t know how to. Finally she
figured out that she contracted a global sisterhood of praying women to serve the “stan” nations.
However, they didn’t know exactly what to pray for. 3 days later, a raid was conducted in Greece
and eleven girls were rescued from human trafficking. Those girls were from Uzbekistan.
Christine and even I believed, that this was the result of the prayer held by the sisterhood of
praying women. From that incident, the Uzbekistan females believed that Jesus is real. This
proves God will make a way in all forms of difficulties.

After all, God brings out the lost who were hidden, God makes things possible and led Christine
to the girls who were forgotten. When the experts said A21 would fail in Eastern Europe, they
know they will face difficulty, but won’t fail. This gave them a challenge to face, and also
another time to communicate with God through their prayers.

Now that the God has helped them with all their journey, she said, God didn’t remove all the
difficulties from their path, but God is bigger than all difficulty. He has planned all the obstacles
for us all and there’s no prayer too big for Him, no problem too big for Him, nothing too big for
Him. There’s no enemy he cannot defeat or a mountain he cannot move. Nothing is impossible
for our God.

Christine still face the giants, but she won’t be stopped by them. God had asked her to face the
giants and has planned something big throughout her life. God has also a plan for all our lives, so

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why wouldn’t we start? We can start where we are, with what we have and however we can. God
will always have a plan and will lead us until the end.

Conclusion – The Challenge

After facing her fears and finally overcoming the challenges ahead of her, Christine understood
that the horrors were not in another time or place, but next door, along the streets, in her
community, and wherever she traveled. God had opened her eyes, and made her realize that so
many of those horrors could have been part of her life. All the miraculous turns of events that
had shaped and saved her life could have simply not happened, and she would not be the person
she is now, serving God and helping others.

Christine mentions that although the our lives might seem worlds away from the victims of
injustice, the gap between them is so sliver-thin. Standing in that gap is Jesus, who has thrown
down his cross as the bridge from the world of darkness into the world of light and freedom,
truth and love. Jesus acted as an example for us and continues to guide those who serve Him.

Jesus loves us and makes us whole, not only for his pleasure, but so that we might also reach
others who are lost. He is passionate to save the world and gave his life for that very reason. God
“did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him”
(John 3:17). Jesus sends us to shine his light in the darkness so that others may be rescued and
set free. When Jesus said to go into all the world (Matthew 28:19), he didn’t mean to wait. Christ
brought us light in the darkness so that we can reach everyone living a nightmare now. He longs
to shake us awake so that we can shout out the truth. He means for us to be a light in the
darkness, unafraid of anything, unstoppable and undaunted.