Trailblazer Opening

The night was dark, the stars were my only guide. My only thoughts were on my father's last words: "Tell all you know. Jesus must be known to all, especially our leader. May God be with him." I paused at the corner of the building, tears streaming down my face as I thought of my father. I checked the street for any enemies and seeing none ran for the alley across the way. Hidden just in the shadows, were some boxes which announced their presence when my knees ran into them, causing me to stumble to the ground. My tears were still flowing as I sat on the ground.

My father, not quite dead for a whole day, had already left behind a coward for a son. "Tell our leader," he had said and yet when I was face-to-face with him, I ran. I ran out of fear, fear of myself, fear of our new leader, but more importantly, fear of dying. Fear controlled my every thought and my every action.

The sun was just beginning to show his colors as I took another look around me. Already, the decisions made by our new leader had reached this small town. Memories of what had been shone like the newly risen sun in comparison to the bleakness of what was now. My fear was turning to anger as I thought of all that had happened. From my father's death in Mexico and the slaughter of millions of my people fueled an anger in me I didn't even know I had. "Castro can burn in hell for all I care," I thought bitterly. The thought startled me. Was I really this full of hatred?? And yet, my father had told me to forgive the man who forced my father out of our home when I was 9. Forgive the man who ultimately forced my mother's death and my father's apparent suicide and even worse, let him know about Christ. "Forget it," I reasoned, "Castro'll kill you as soon as he knows who you are. Whose son you were. God knows, having faith is easier when nothing is wrong.