When it's all been said and done - its not done.

"Not for Sale" is an incredible book written by David Batstone that I encourage any person to read. If you have any passion for social justice, read this book. If you dont have a passion for social justice - you'll get one. Today I was reading this book on a patio outside of a coffee shop in the subarbs of Langley BC. I was eating rhubard and apple pie and drinking a mocha topped with whipped cream. As I looked up from my reading I saw far from "middle class" houses, sidewalks dressed with trees, ivy, bushes all beautifully green, and nice clean streets. When I looked back down at my book I read about the child sex trafficking in Peru, one of the many, many places in the world this occurs. The stem of any kind of prostitution - poverty. Some parents will sell their child into trafficking for a colour TV - status.
My heart sinks to read these storie, I look up past my mocha and pie to see a beautiful neighborhood - a mask. I realized that the many kilometers and days of biking I did will not change the world, or uncover the mask - but its a start.
The awarenss we were raising about poverty while on the tour was also an awareness we needed to uncover within ourselves, this was just an introduction, a begining. The tour is over, its done, but our work is not done. While in Palos Heights, just outside Chicago we had a wonderful service before we left that morning for our ride. Aaron Carpenter spoke there and I'll never forget what he said. Palos Heights was his home he said "I'm home, but this morning I woke up and there was still work to do, I still had to go biking. The same is true when we reach Jersey City, the work will not be done, there will still be work to do until God brings us all 'Home.'" All of us have now reached Jersey City and are now back to our respective homes, but the work is not done. It'll continue - the biking is done, but the work isnt. Its now time to continue to struggle with the issues of poverty and social justice by other means.