Dancing on Independence Mall

4pm, 600 people converge near a stadium in Camden. They are all here with one purpose in mind: bring a lot of attention to what Joseph Kony and the LRA are doing over in northern Uganda.

Broken into groups of 12, everyone starts heading towards the Ben Franklin bridge in one long, segmented line. The weather is perfect! Crossing the Ben Franklin bridge was breathtaking...several hundred feet above roadways, apartment buildings, and then the river, with a killer breeze to top it off. Something is so inspiring just being near something so grand, let alone getting to walk across it!

6pm, everyone is on Independence Mall...with the intent to stay here until someone 'of significance' comes and and makes a promise to help end the child abductions in the northern Uganda/Congo region. How long will it take? Well no one knows, but that was the idea.

Evening fell, the city lights started to glow, and the few stars strong enough to make it through started to glimmer in the cloudless sky. People started to finally settle down, stretched out across the Mall. And just when it felt like it couldn't get any better on such a beautiful night, they start playing In the Name of Love over the speakers! This immediately gets everyone up and dancing around! What an incredible sight. This was repeated every couple hours until...

Around 3am the song was played one last time, with everyone falling asleep almost immediately after.

6am, the sun is barely up, and they have an announcement to make: NBC news is coming! Well if that wasn't exciting enough, ABC and CBS showed up not long after.

The morning wears on, with no good news to report. Someone of social influence is still needed to come and make a statement on behalf of the child soldiers. The afternoon sun starts to beat down on everyone, and it comes to that point where it feels like there is no end in sight. So just get up and leave. Well a lot of people did, and by 3pm the crowd had dwindled to 50 or so.

That's when something sobering happened: a young lady walks by, and after noticing what everyone is doing on the Mall, she starts to choke up. Indeed, she is from Uganda, her younger cousin killed not too long ago by the LRA.

Not long after, Eugene starts walking over to the platform...could this be it? He calls everyone in, and announces that, Patrick Murphy is said to show up in a little under 4 hours. (!!) Time to play that song again!

28 hours after arriving, everyone heads to their blankets and sleeping bags sprawled out over the grass. But before doing so, Eugene announces,

"Hey guys, I have an idea. To celebrate......lets play that song...one more time." Yes!

Singing in the Stairwell

By far, the most beautiful sound I have heard, happened a few weeks ago as I was up in the North Country visiting the woman I am pursuing.

The origins are fuzzy but we were driving back to her house when she asked me to take a detour to Clarkson's campus. we pull around to the far side of a building that anyone hardly uses. We are fortunate enough to meet someone walking out of the door as we are going in (these doors are locked from the outside).

Once inside, she takes me to the stairwell. The campus only has one as far as I know, one that echos and reverberates as well as this one. We walk up a level or two and stop at a corner where the stairs take a 90º turn. We are standing there, facing each other. I'm not sure what I had on my face but she was looking at me with this look that said 'you think you know why you're here but I want to show you something beyond your expectations'.

Before I knew it, "Fingerprints of God" was being sung in the most beautiful voice, echoing in the most beautiful way, sounding so full and rich. Without any shame or fear showing, she sang...and I was left completely speechless. Multitudes of people could have gone up and down those stairs in those few minutes and I saw not even one of them!

Even now, I can hear it being sung as if she were next to me.

Katie Ellen

I am humbled. After encouraging my parents to give my siblings the opportunity to participate in the water fast, I learn that Katie ordered water every time the family went out to eat (knowing them, often!) - for 7 weeks. Not only did she out last me, I must confess I did not adhere strictly to the rules (justifying it by saying I wasn't going to be legalistic about it).

It isn't about who can go the longest with just water, but it's the heart. And Katie's heart shows she is serious about helping those who are much less fortunate.

You have taught me something important, Katie. I desire to have a heart like that.

May your life continue to shine 1 Timothy 4:12.