Because We Can

Some of you may have heard of a state governor who encouraged the reading of God's Word across his whole state. Reading the Bible for 80 hours straight from Genesis to Revelation. The cousins and we made a pajama run to the closest fast food place for ice cream.  (For all of you don't know, a pajama run is when you take the kids in their PJs to a store/restaurant for a treat. I highly recommended it. It keeps my boys on their toes; they call me crazy but I pray they do pajama runs with their children.)

My love for God's Word and my curiosity enticed me to check out this Bible Marathon out while we were in town. We did a quick drive by before getting ice cream. Then as we got our late night treat.  I couldn't get away from the feeling to go and stop at the Bible Marathon tent.  So we headed back to the courthouse lawn. They had a simple tent set up with a pulpit, small table, and chairs for the listeners. It was late at night so they had a light shining on the pulpit. One of the cousins asked why they were doing it. My son replied, "Because we can."

As we pulled up and parked, we were startled by a man who came around the block. He looked suspicious and intimidating. Once he was safely gone, I got out. The children all wanted to just stay in the vehicle. It was dark out and there was a cool breeze. After the man had startled us, I didn't blame them. So I proceeded to the tent. I sat and listened for awhile. Then asked if I could read. They said sure.  I only read two chapters, but I signed my name at the beginning of the chapter I began to read at. Sure there were a couple tricky names of cities I wasn't sure about how to pronounce, but I felt surrounded by God as I read. Oh, I must tell you that the previous reader had read the very chapter my previous Sunday School lesson had been about. God's perfect timing!

The light shining on the pulpit made it difficult to see anything outside of the tent. My thoughts raced to the man that had startled us as we drove up. I thought of the sheriffs office across the street. I thought of brothers and sisters in Christ in North Korea who don't have the freedom to read God's Word as publically as I was. People who had every fear to read the Bible anytime. "Because we can" my son had said. Yes, we have freedoms in America that other citizens in other countries don't have. Freedoms are to be exercised.....if we don't exercise them, we will certainly lose them.