Worth fighting for

I have become aware of a prevailing attitude amongst locals during our first year in Massachusetts. When people learn that we have stayed here for some time, they cynically ask "So what do you think?' It's as if they expect us to burst out sobbing and say, "It's terrible here, we hate it! It's so cold and miserable!" The few people who know anything about Cape Town say: "You left that...for this?"

Yes, it is insanely cold in winter, but how about the dozens of South African professionals that continue to move to Canada? Talk about cold! Do they get asked the same questions?

For now, the snow has a mysterious charm for us, and the foliage of spring, summer and fall is spectacular. I have enjoyed opening my car window as I drive through the tree-lined suburbs of Boston. There is a similar tree-lined avenue near our previous home in Cape Town. I often took visitors to our area along that route, just for the scenic value. In Norwood, MA , nearly every street looks like that!

Having studied some of the revolutionary history of Boston, the natural beauty of New England has spurred me on to conclude that "It was worth fighting for."

If a bunch of colonial fat cats back on their damp island were seeking to dominate and extract tribute from my bountiful new world, I might have been willing to grab my musket in the name of freedom if no other reasonable recourse were possible.

I feel a kindred spirit with the patriots in my reason for being here. I felt a call to this part of the world because a new fight for freedom is raging.

The revival fires of the Great Awakening which stirred up the appetite of independence and freedom from an exploitive and spiritually compromised British Empire created an America with freedoms that are still unique in our world today. Unfortunately, the steamroller of secular thought and the successful discrediting of Christian leadership is creating communities without a sustainable upliftment dynamic. If we don't fight for the soul of the emerging generation, America will descend in world influence and make way for the dominance of other cultures who may not have a Christian foundation.

Fortunately, many leaders and churches are fighting the good fight, reaching this generation with contemporary methods. However, Massachusetts and the East Coast needs more prevailing churches to secure freedom for this densely populated, beautiful part of the world.