To foster feelings of admiration for Jesus whom we have not met in the flesh, Ignatius encouraged contemplation of a known praiseworthy leader. An emotional connection is made by association. We transfer the admiration we have for a leader we know to Jesus. For Ignatius, this association was made with a king (Ignatius had once served as a knight). The king had power, defended the people, and urged his knights to loyally serve the kingdom alongside him. But, many people today have no personal experience with monarchies and perceive them differently than Ignatius did. For this contemplation exercise a modern-day heroic leader is suggested.

Part I:

Contemplate the life of Gary Haugen.

Gary grew up in Sacramento, California in a good Christian home without any initial aspirations to change the world.[1] Although he loved God, he lived a sheltered life fairly protected from global suffering. As a youngster, he dreamed of being a football player. However, Gary went on to become a lawyer and gradually was pierced by the pain he saw. In particular, his life changed in 1994 after being put in charge of the Rwandan genocide investigation. Three years later, he left the U.S. Department of Justice to start International Justice Mission (IJM).

For the past twenty years, IJM has fought against oppression, rescuing people from slavery and violence. The organization employs more than 750 legal and social services professionals and has rescued more than 28,000 people around the world from forced labor, sex trafficking, false imprisonment, and other forms of brutality—all because one man answered Jesus’s invitation and encouraged others to join him.

Gary writes, “For Nagaraj and his family, who worked 16 hours a day, six days a week, making bricks, there was no mystery about what kept them and 80 other slaves inside the four walls of their compound. It was the vicious beatings unleashed upon those who tried to run away. For Elisabeth, a 16-year-old girl held inside a brothel in Thailand, it was money for Bible college that lured her into the hands of a sex trafficker who lied about a job across the border. Once inside the brothel, however, it was sheer violent terror that forced her to submit to multiple rapes by the brothel’s paying customers.”[2]

Gary invites us to join the work: “Ultimately, this struggle to protect victims of violence and slavery is the work of God’s kingdom. It is the Lord who commands us to ‘seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow’ (Isa. 1:17), and it is Almighty God who promises to go with us as we declare to the Pharaohs of this world, ‘Let my people go’ (Ex. 5:1).”[3]

Listen to Gary’s appeal to follow Jesus’s call in this video (9 min).

Part II:

After spending time contemplating the above, prayerfully ponder the following points and your own response:

  1. Consider that Jesus is greater than any earthly hero. If an ordinary man like Gary Haugen might get our attention and convince us to join his vision, imagine how much more Jesus can capture our hearts.
  1. Consider that such a hero would inspire the heart of any truly thoughtful and compassionate person. She or he would want to find a way to be part of the good cause.
  1. Consider that a truly thoughtful and compassionate person might even go to great lengths, actively giving up comfort and pleasure, to be part of Jesus’s mission.
  1. What is your own response to Jesus’s invitation? Talk with God about it. One possibility could be expressed like this:

“Amazing Lord of all things, in light of your never-ending goodness, and before the witness of others, I offer my life to you. Empower me to embody that commitment. My earnest desire and decision is to imitate you, enduring whatever hardships or discomfort you may allow if that is necessary to serve you wholeheartedly.”

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             [1]  Christian Buckley, “5 Good Minutes with Gary Haugen,” http://www.conversantlife.com/social-justice/5-good-minutes-with-gary-haugen-%E2%80%93-founder-international-justice-mission

             [2] Gary Haugen, “On a Justice Mission,” Christianity Today, Feb 2007, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/march/16.40.html

             [3] Ibid.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]