"Out of Bondage"

Beneath a solitary tree in the sun-scorched village of Mulual Baai, more than 400 Dinka women and children sit passively in the 110-degree heat. Their clothes are filthy and tattered, and only a few wear shoes. Swarms of green flies cluster around their nostrils and eyes, but they are too exhausted to swat them away. Some of them have just walked hundred of kilometers from the north of Sudan, where they were slaves to Muslims. Their "retriever," a Muslim named Ahmed, has led them to their home region, the desolate southern province of Bahr el Ghazal, to sell them into freedom.As they rest in the shade, John Eibner of the human-rights group Christian Solidarity International (CSI) counts out the cash for their release $50 a head, paid in stacks of Sudanese pounds. Ahmed wearing sunglasses and flip-flops, gathers the bundles of bills in the lap of his white djellaba;  more than he can cram into his knapsack. Then Eibner walks over to the slaves and declares: "You are all free.."

Video below of some footage from Darfur and some from a slave redemption mission.

Biker Church

Blessed with Cancer

By: Scott Giuliani

I grew up in a Christian home with loving parents that allowed me the freedom to do what I wanted when I wanted. Being the youngest of three, I was “a little spoiled”. At the age of 10 I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. At that time I didn’t fully understand the meaning behind it all, but knew the importance of having Jesus in my life. As I got older my family grew apart from the church. My teen years had almost no spiritual influence at all. At the age of 14 I was introduced to something that would become a life long addiction…pornography.

After graduating high school I attended college. Unlike most college students, I didn’t get into the party scene. With my high school sweetheart 6 hours away at a different college, my addiction grew. I have never cheated on a girlfriend or my wife with a physical person, but have done so thousands of times with pictures and movies. Mathew 5:28 says “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” After 2 years of college I dropped out to join the Air Force.

I joined the Air Force in 1997. That same year I married my high school sweetheart and love of my life, Lori. Unfortunately, like our college years, we saw very little of each other. My job in the military kept me away from home much of the time. Again, being separated from my beautiful wife fueled my addiction and it all started to take a toll on our marriage. I never communicated well in the first place, but now my addiction was more attractive to me than my own wife. Like any other addiction, it began to control my life.

During these years in the Air Force Lori and I made a couple attempts at getting back to church and restarting our relationship with Jesus. Needless to say, we never stuck with it. One thing I did realize in all this was that those times I began to get closer to Jesus; I would start to get away from my addiction. As soon as I would start to lose my faith, my addiction would come roaring back. Then at the young age of thirty, I had a life changing experience.

In July of 2006 I was diagnosed with stage 3C metastatic melanoma. I had Cancer…? Just when I thought everything was great. At least in my worldly mind I thought everything was great. I had a beautiful wife, great job, big house, cars, motorcycles and money. But none of those worldly, material possessions could fill that emptiness I had inside me. This diagnosis created a chain of events that would change my life and little did I know it would be the greatest blessing I could ever receive.

The next 16 months would be the hardest of my life. After the diagnosis I had surgery in August. After recovering from surgery I was lucky enough to receive 7 weeks of radiation to the back of my head, right jaw and neck. After recovering from the radiation I started a 12 month biotherapy treatment. After 5 months of treatment I noticed a spot in my vision that probably shouldn’t be there, but didn’t see a doctor for it until a couple months later. After seeing the doctor I was told I had Cotton Wool Spots, which were being caused by the biotherapy. The doctors were afraid if I stayed on treatment I would start to lose my vision. So in month 8 my treatment was stopped.

How could cancer be a blessing? Throughout those 16 months, the Lord placed people in our path to help turn us around and start us walking towards Him instead of away from Him. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” I believe God used cancer as a tool to put me on the path He wants me on. I began to realize this a few months into my battle with cancer. The first few months I was so angry with God for doing this to me, I couldn’t even pray. Every time I tried, I couldn’t get myself to talk to Him. I was ready to give up when God placed two people in our lives that changed it all and after about 6 months of knowing them, we became best of friends.

Those two friends brought us back to church and started our journey back to Jesus. After trying one small church the four of us decided to try Freedom Biker Church. Lori and I haven’t been anywhere else since. We have been taken in by the Freedom family and have finally found our spiritual home. Through my personal relationship with Jesus, He has helped me take control of my addiction to pornography and win my battle with cancer. Jesus is the ultimate counselor and healer. Also, Lori and I spent more time together in those 16 months than we had in 5 years combined. During that time our relationship grew more than ever. We were baptized on October 28, 2007 to recommit our lives to Jesus. I give all the glory to God!

Psalms 18:6 “In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.” God heard my cry for help and He saved me!

God is faithful…. A story from France (1800’s)
A lady sat at the back of a church weeping; not entirely sure if she was praying, grieving, or worrying. The day before her husband had thrown himself off a bridge over a river and had died from his injuries.

She had prayed for him their whole married life. He was a mean drunk, a womaniser, gambler, but somehow she still loved him, saw the good in him and had kept up her prayers for him for decades, despite seeing no sign or apparent change in him. Now it seemed too late, had her prayers been in vain ?

Even though it was still early morning, the church started to fill up and a long line of penitents formed a queue along the aisle outside the confessional box.

A few moments later the PP came out of the confessional and walked down the isle towards her, stopping at her row. He sat down next to her. (She had never met him before). After a few seconds he said “He turned to God in his heart, just before his face hit the water, your prayer was answered”

He walked back up the aisle to continue his daily 18 hour stint in the confessional. (He was the Cure of Ars).

Her sorrow turned to joy, God had saved her husband after all. God’s mercy had pursued him to the very end.

There is no such thing as a lost cause this side of death.

The Hidden Valley ...Colayo: Trip to Pasil,the Salip festival and Colayo,the Hi...

The Hidden Valley ...Colayo: Trip to Pasil,the Salip festival and Colayo,the Hi...:  “From the mountains we derive our strength, the rivers our peace, the valleys our hopes and from the skies, the wisdom of our ancestors.” (...

HOW TO BECOME A DISCIPLE

Sayings:

Some old men said, "If you see a young man climbing up to the heavens by his own will, catch him by the foot and throw him down to the earth; it is not good for him."

At first abba Ammoe said to abba Isaiah, "What do you think of me?" He said to him, "You are an angel, father." Later on he said to him, "and now, what do you think of me?" He replied, "You are like Satan. Even when you say a good word to me, it is like steel."

Abba Moses asked abba Sylvanus,"Can a man lay a new foundation every day?" The old man said, "If he works hard, he can lay a new foundation at every moments."

Stories:
It was said of abba John the Dwarf that one day he said to his elder brother,"I should like to be free of all care, like the angels who do not work, but ceaselessly offer worship to God." So he took leave of his brother and went away into the desert. After a week he came back to his brother. When he knocked on the door he heard his brother say, "Who are you?" before he opened it. He said, "I am John, your brother." But he replied, "John has become an angel and henceforth he is no longer among men." Then John besought him, saying, "It is I." However, his brother did not let him in but left him there in distress until morning. Then, opening the door, he said to him, "You are a man and you must once again work in order to eat." Then John made a prostration before him, saying, "Forgive me."

Abba John said, "A monk is toil. The monk toils in all he does. That is what a monk is."

OBEDIENCE ...Desert Father's stories

Sayings:

The holy Syncletia said, "I think that for those living in community obedience is a greater virtue than chasity, however perfect. Chastity carries within it the danger of pride, but obedience has within it the promise of humility."

The old men used to say, "If someone has faith in another and hands himself over to him in complete submission, he does not need to pay attention to God's commandments but he can entrust his whole will to his father. He will suffer no reproach from God, for God looks for nothing from beginners so much as renunciation through obedience."

Abba Mios of Belos said, "Obedience responds to obedience. When someone obeys God, then God obeys his request."

Story:

They said that abba Sylvanus had a disciple in Scetis, named Mark, who possessed in great measure the virtue of obedience. He was a copyist of old manuscripts, and the old man loved him for his obedience. He had eleven other disciples who were aggrieved that he loved more than them.

When the old men nearby heard that he loved Mark above the others,they took it ill. One day they visited him and abba Sylvanus took them with him and, going out of his cell, began to knock on the door of each of his disciples, saying, "Brother, come out, I have work for you." And not one of them appeared immediately.

Then he came to Mark's cell and knocked, saying, "Mark". And as soon as Mark heard the voice of the old man he came outside and the old man sent him on some errand.

So abba Sylvanus said to the old men, "Where are the other brothers?", and he went into Mark's cell and found the book in which he had been writing and he was making the letter O; and when he heard the old man's voice, he had not finished the line of the O. And the old men said, "Truly, abba, we also love the one whom you love; for God loves him, too."