Fighting for Freedom in Christ

Our destination today was Valley Forge. In 1778, George Washington and his army camped out during a harsh winter to fight for the freedom of the American colonists. They sought freedom from oppression and the freedom to live lives as they so desired. Christmas Day 1778, the tall general and his army crossed the Delaware and defeated the German Hessians whom the English had hired as mercenaries, a major victory in the battle for freedom and liberty.

In a way Valley Forge is a fitting place to stop. As we ride for the freedom of our Congolese sisters from their trauma, their shame, their lose of self worth, we cross over the mountains, rivers, and valleys to fight against the harm and destruction these women experience. Like Washington, taking up the flag (or at least the picture says he had one), we pick up our crosses to enter into the battle to bring these women the healing and restoration that is found only in Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord. We continue to suffer on behalf of our sisters in order that they may come to see the truth, the love, the hope, the freedom that is the Son of Man. It took Washington a few more years to win his battle. It is our prayer that it take only months and days for the battle over trauma to be conquered.

I imagine Washington's day started pretty early many moons ago. More recently, we learned that Rebecca Black's Friday starts at 7AM. Well, Rebecca, today we had you beat. You see, our Thursday today began at 4AM, an hour at which I have no business being up. The reason: an 11:30AM meeting (arriving by 11) and presentation with The American Bible Society office in Valley Forge. riders left between 5-5:30AM, and we in Bertha were off soon after. Emily and I were the first in line at Starbucks at 6AM, leaving with coffee and a New York Times in hand. As we drove on our way to Valley Forge, we passed through Hershey. I received a call from Marianne (aka M-squared) saying they stopped at her grandparents not too far from the park. So Bertha made her way there, where six of us enjoyed a second breakfast and had a twenty minute power nap. Needless to say, I was Hershey Park Happy.

I have a confession. The meeting wasn't at 11:30, but 12; however, I withheld this information from the team for the sake of factoring in flat tires, getting lost, etc. It was also to motivate them to get there earlier. Well, it worked...sort of. Everyone pulled in pretty close to the 11:30 deadline that had been moved. Lunch and the presentation went well. Following it, we got a tour of the ABS office, meeting the people there and learning about what they're doing.

This evening, we had a second presentation at the National Christian Conference Center (NC3) to support the 5K occurring on the NC3 campus Saturday. You should all be there. It'll be a blast! We learned of a few other advocates whose hearts have been moved by the Holy Spirit. I'm still amazed at the way that God moves people into action, myself included. Got to see some familiar faces: some peeps from Easton, some peeps from F&M, some peeps from ABS (whom we had just met earlier in the day), and a few sets of parental units.

So today, we have two words of the day, both of which were used during the presentation this evening. Andy dropped "respite" and Lewie slipped in "extrapolate." Both words were rather impressive, coming naturally to each speaker.

Well, that's a short narrative of today's events. I never got around to my New York Times (didn't get my Thursday Nicholas Kristof fix), but I did win some DELICIOUS cake balls at the silent auction this evening.

Tomorrow, our day begins shortly before Rebecca's day once again.

Bonne nuite,
BMD