Juneteenth 2023

Freedom is a concept, an intangible. It certainly can manifest itself in tangible ways: the absence of chains or restrictions, a myriad of choices as opposed to only one path to take or flavor of coffee. But the substance of freedom itself lies within a place that is not marked on a map.

Frederick Douglass was born into bondage, a slave in Maryland, but freedom lived in his mind. With that mind, he taught himself to read and write, he escaped slavery, and began his journey to light for others the path toward freedom in mind and spirit. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged for crimes against Germany during WW2. Though in prison, he died free: freedom lived in his mind. Corrie Ten Boom and her family were taken captive by Nazi forces in retribution for hiding Jews. Months after being sent to a concentration camp where she watched her sister die, Corrie was released on a "clerical error." But freedom lived in her mind: Miss Ten Boom had been free long before her release and continued to find freedom as she told her story again and again. Lucille Bridges refused to allow limitations placed, at the time, on her children and her people to limit or bind her. She fought to see her daughter, Ruby, receive the same opportunities given to white children. Freedom lived in her mind and lives today in the mind of her daughter, an author and the founder of the Ruby Bridges Foundation which promotes tolerance and unity among school-age children.

Today we celebrate freedom yet, not everyone is free. There are those who are suffering abuse at the hands of parents and spouses. There are those who, because of circumstances are not free to attend any university they choose or live in any neighborhood they would like. There are those who are hungry, living in the streets and bound by mental illness. There are many who are attached to dialysis machines, heart monitors, or respirators. Not everyone is free, and we have to face the fact, never, in this life, in this country, will everyone be free. There are those who live with wonderful spouses and caring parents who are not free. There are those who have the means to attend premier universities and live on tree-lined streets in quiet neighborhoods; they are not free. There are many who eat as they please at tables surrounded by family in homes filled with love, carefree and stable in mind, who are not free. There are those with healthy kidneys and hearts and lungs who remain bound. Freedom is a concept...

...and perfect freedom, freedom with a capital F is a reality only in Jesus Christ. 

Speaking from experience, I have been a slave even as I was born white into a middle-class American family. I have lived in the prison of sin and want and darkness. Only when I have looked to Jesus, Savior, Deliverer, Peace, Provider; only when I have trusted Him to lead the way and obeyed the things He has told me to do in Scripture; only then have I tasted freedom. Not freedom as in "all things equal" or "all circumstances to my liking," but the freedom that lives in the minds of those who wish to be free and to do what it takes to be unburdened of anything that shackles their spirits.