Happy Independence Day, USA! May God continue to bless and keep you. May your number one export be Freedom. “Yankee go home,” says the sign…”and take me with you!”

This day is much more than the 4th of July; this day is a symbol of Freedom, Liberty and Self-rule. It is a day of release from bondage. It is a day when those who crave Freedom stand up against their oppressors and declare their dignity, their God-given right to choose their own way.

God bless you, America. You aren’t a perfect nation, but you stand for a perfect idea. You aren’t without fault, but you aim for justice and liberty. You aren’t the only nation on the planet, but you are the one who embraces every race and harbors humanity.

Let this be the year, politicians and people, when we take to heart the suggestion made by a wise man…Viktor Frankl…and balance the Statue of Liberty on the east coast, with a Statue of Responsibility on the west.

Some stories are tough not to notice, and Liu Xiaobo’s saga is definitely one of them. Brave enough to stand up to the Chinese regime, Liu has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize… only he won’t be able to attend the ceremony. He is imprisoned for telling the truth.

A good treatment of Liu’s plight may be found on the NPR website. Here is a blip:

The country detained hundreds of other dissidents — including Liu’s wife — and warned other countries of potential repercussions if they sent representatives to the ceremony in Norway. China also blocked access to the websites of the BBC, Norway’s NRK and other news organizations ahead of the ceremony.

My prayer is that Liu Xiaobo finds peace, even in his suffering… and that we all get a taste of the courage he has shown. Good choice, Nobel judges. Thank you.

I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

You have a dream, and you know what it is. Most of us do. In the months that I have been speaking to groups about the Dream Into It concept, I have met only one person who claimed that he had no dream. The truth was that he believed his situation impossible. He was afraid to dream.

It may be helpful to ask yourself a few questions that can stir up a dormant dream. Take a look back, even to childhood. What was it that captured your heart then? What have you “always” wanted to do? What is it that comes easy to you, but that others find difficult? What would you love to spend your time doing, if only you didn’t have to work all the time at something else?

There are two important considerations here. First, don’t think that you have to come up with your absolute-all-time-best dream ever. Any dream will do to get started. Chances are that it will change as you go. The important thing is to begin. Next, it is absolutely crucial that your dream be your dream. Someone else’s dream won’t do. It won’t be able to sustain you through the rough spots. If you choose your direction, based upon what would impress other people, the end result will be resentment. Don’t do that to you. Don’t do that to them.

Spend a little time with it. What is your dream? What is there that seems unreachable, but that you just can’t let go of? What would make you happy and fulfilled. It is not money. Money may be a result of finding and living your purpose, but it is not your purpose.

If you have questions, write to me. I’ll see you on the Road to Freedom.

It appears that this may be the day that sees Aijalon Mahli Gomes released by North Korea. The Telegraph and others are reporting that former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, is in Pyongyang and that the DPRK leadership has agreed to release Aijalon Mahli Gomes.

It may be that Mr. Carter, a man of peace, could play an instrumental role in helping to tone down North Korea’s war yelps at a time when tensions are running high. The plight of Aijalon Gomes has set the stage for more than the release of a trespasser. Here is a blip from the Telegraph article:

The Foreign Policy report said Mr Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, would be travelling as a private citizen, similar to the mission carried out by former president Bill Clinton last year when he secured the release of Americans Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two television journalists who were also jailed after wandering across the North Korean border with China.

Mr Carter made an unprecedented visit to Pyongyang in 1994 when the United States came close to war with North Korea over its nuclear programme. He helped defuse the crisis through talks with then-leader Kim Il-sung.

Often maligned for failures during his term of presidency, Jimmy Carter has had a tough go in the press. Say what you will, though, it would be difficult to find anyone on the planet who has done more for the protection of human dignity than the former president. I salute him for going to bat for Aijalon. God bless Jimmy Carter, Aijalon Gomes, all the prisoners of compassion… and God bless you.

Welcome home, Aijalon Gomes. I hope you choose to speak out about your mission and your discoveries.

Update: It is official; Aijalon is free and is on his way home. Thank you, Lord. Thank you Jimmy Carter. Thank you Kim Yong-Nam. It is a time for rejoicing, for thankfulness, and for reflection on the preciousness of freedom. Aijalon, we prayed for you and held you dear in our hearts during your imprisonment. You were not alone. The Father moved in the spirit of many to not forget his son, Aijalon.

Now comes another name to remember–that of Son Jong Nam, who escaped the North Korean police state by crossing over to China in 1998. In the military, he had served a ten year stint as a presidential security guard, and his loyalty to the state was intense. Something happened, though, that changed his mind. Here is how Hyung-Jin Kim, of the Associated Press described that change in a recent article…

(Son Jong Nam’s) wife, eight months pregnant at the time, was arrested for allegedly saying Kim Jong Il had ruined the economy and caused a mass famine. Interrogators seeking a confession kicked her in the stomach, forcing her to discharge blood and have a miscarriage, Son’s brother says.

Terrified and disillusioned, Son, then 39, fled in January 1998 with his wife and their 6-year-old daughter to the Chinese border town of Yanji. His younger brother had already arrived the previous year, fleeing what he says was a false charge of being involved in the illegal export of strategic items.

Son’s wife died of leukemia seven months later.

It was in China that Son Jong Nam met a South Korean missionary who provided, not only food and shelter, but information about someone Son and his family had not heard about in the North–the Messiah, Jesus Christ (Yeshua Ha-Mashiach.) Son Jong Nam responded to the Gospel and began to tell others about his experience with the Word of God. In 2001, though, the Chinese arrested him for his work in taking the Gospel message to other North Koreans (who were also hiding in China) and sent him back to North Korea.

The rest of the story is almost too much for me to repeat. Hyong Jin-Kim tells of Son’s arrival, back in the North, like this…

In January 2001, Son was arrested by Chinese police for allegedly trying to convert North Korean defectors in China, which bans foreigners from proselytizing. He was deported home in April, where he was detained and tortured, leaving him with a limp, his brother said. He lost about 70 pounds (32 kilograms) in captivity.

“He was beaten in the head with clubs and given electric shocks,” his brother says, his eyes welling up with tears.

How many of us would have attended religious services this weekend, had we known that the potential bill to pay would be severe? Even that didn’t stop Son Jong Nam, though. After three years of brutality, he crossed back into China to see his daughter, then he loaded up with Bibles and cassette tapes of hymns to take back to the underground Church in North Korea.

Arrested again–for possessing Bibles–Son was returned to prison, where he endured another two years of torture before being released forever in 2008. In addition to the AP article, there is more to read about Christian martyr, Son Jong Nam, at One Free Korea, where I found this quote from a Newsweek article:

Missionaries say Christians often keep their Bibles buried in the backyard, wrapped in vinyl. Preachers based in China sometimes conduct services by mobile phone. In five to 10 minutes the pastor reads Bible passages and prays for the sick and needy. Services are kept short; the regime uses GPS trackers to locate the phones.

One does not have to be a Christian to be horrified by stories like this. The fact that brutal regimes–be they street gangs, religious factions or recognized governments–are widespread and growing in numbers is enough to be of concern to anyone who has ever tasted freedom. It is sometimes all too easy to criticize the United States of America. We have problems. We have crime. We sometimes do and say ridiculous things, but American citizens can worship God as they choose, anywhere they choose, on any day they choose–without fear of reprisal by the government. They can even choose to deny that there is a God. We have no forced arbitrators of faith here. We can read a Bible or a Koran with equal impunity.

Try that elsewhere.

Happy birthday, United States of America. May you continue to trust in God. May you continue to flourish under His wings.