Tales from Free Camp
Posted Sep 04, 2009Taken from Inner Links, August 2009
Can you believe summer is almost over? You know what that means? Football, hunting, cool weather, football, kids back in school, and football! The Foundation Free Camp summer schedule is almost over too, and the rapid pace of the Canyon will start to gradually return to a more peaceful tempo. I always have mixed emotions this time of year. Even though the slower pace is nice, my family will be sorry to see the Youth Camp pull up their tents and move out, but I know they are tired and a little bedraggled.
We had an interesting group at Linnet’s Wings this past week. Jim Ned Valley Church of Christ from Tuscola pulled off an amazing retreat. My family had a couple of meals with them, and you would never meet a more lovable group of servant leaders. For you University of Texas fans, Tuscola is the home of Colt McCoy, and I learned a valuable lesson: don’t ever wear an A&M shirt when giving an orientation to this group. They can be a little rough on Aggie fans! Any way, during the orientation, I noticed a quiet guy in the back of the crowd that had an intriguing look. I decided that I just had to meet this fellow and find out his story. After visiting with him, I had to share his tale with my Foundation friends.
Zechariah Manyok Biar, one of the members of Jim Ned Valley Church of Christ, was actually one of the “lost boys of Sudan.” Some of you may recall this horrific story during the Sudanese Civil Wars that happened from 1983 until 2005. During this war, dubbed by many as the most bloody and brutal war of the 20th century, thousands of children were orphaned and separated from their families when government troops attacked villages killing many of the inhabitants. Many children escaped into the jungles, but orphaned and with no support, they had to make epic journeys lasting sometimes years across the borders to international relief camps in Kenya. Girls were often raped, killed, or taken as slaves to the north, and therefore, most of the survivors were boys, and they were termed “the lost boys of Sudan.” Zechariah was one of these.
Zechariah literally walked across the Sahara Desert, and by the grace of God, he survived disease, starvation, thirst, and exposure. It was also by the grace of God that he became a Christian through the witness of his brother with whom he was reunited after the wars. Zechariah is now a graduate student at Abilene Christian University where he has acquired a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry and a Master of Science in Social Work. One might think that he would want to apply his education anywhere but Sudan where he was so traumatized, but not so. He plans to return to that war-torn country, where he will use his gifts to create opportunities for people to encounter God for the transformation of our world. Sound familiar?
I take great delight in knowing that people like Zechariah and his fellow members of Jim Ned Valley Church of Christ partner with the Foundation to bring about renewal. Don’t you?
