Make A Choice
I almost don’t even know where to start after a day like this one. Keeping up with KrisAnne Hall is almost as difficult as keeping up with the latest tax codes. I started the morning off with 16 ounces of black coffee when I maybe should have chosen a latte with about four shots of espresso in it. Oh well. Choices happen all the time, whether big or small.
The day kicked off with a testimony from KrisAnne at the Nazarene Church in Kamiah, Idaho. As she shared about her salvation and call to educate, the verse she pointed out is Esther really stuck out to me. You see, Esther and KrisAnne were faced with similar predicaments: stand up for what is right, or settle for what is convenient and comfortable. Esther 4:14 says, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” If you are familiar with Esther’s story, you know that she did NOT remain silent at that time. But what if she had? Surely, God would have delivered His chosen people out from under the hands of tyranny. However, Esther’s family would not only be unable to reap the rewards, but would perish for failing to serve the kingdom of God. Esther had to make a choice.
Later on in the day, over 100 people gathered in the church for a six hour Roots of Liberty workshop. During the sessions we discovered the genealogy of the Constitution, the purposes and principles of the Bill of Rights, and the sovereignty of states. At some point during the six hours (I can’t remember when because I was busy selling merchandise, making things easier for my boss, mingling with the locals, etc) a man named James Otis Jr. caught my attention. He, like Esther and KrisAnne, was faced with a difficult dilemma. He filed a case against arbitrary writs of assistance in February of 1761 EVEN though he could have been arrested and hung for treason right on the spot. He stood up for and defended liberty in the face of death and inspired many others present in the court room to do the same; notably John and Samuel Adams, and James Warren. John Adams even said that “the child of independence was born that day.” All because James Otis made a choice.
These stories made me reflect on what choices I have made to do what is right and defend liberty. I chose to stand up for and voice my beliefs in a public school where it was the unpopular and, quite honestly, ridiculed opinion. I chose to apply exclusively to and attend a school that would teach me about liberty and how to properly defend it. I chose to try to educate myself on what is going on in our world. I chose to travel with KrisAnne and cause expense to myself and my family in the name of liberty. Sure, taking a stand for our liberty is a much harder choice than my choosing between a cookie or desser pizza at today’s picnic (I chose the pizza, by the way). But it is necessary to the preservation of our rights that we do so. It was very encouraging to see so many people choose to show up today in order to abandon their ignorance and/or preconceived notions about our union’s history, and find how we are to restore the republic. More to come; I have much to learn.
Pursuing truth and defending liberty, always.
-A Devoted Patriot