*In an attempt to express the power of redemption, our pastor shared the following story about Abraham Lincoln. (I do not know if this story is true–I couldn’t find it on Snopes–but I’m not sure it matters much if it actually happened or not. It’s a powerful illustration of a Christian’s response to the freedom found in Jesus Christ):

There is an old story that Abraham Lincoln went down to the slave block to buy a slave girl. As the girl up for auction observed Lincoln bidding on her, she figured he was just another white man coming to buy her and likely abuse her. He won the bid, and as he was walking away with her–his property–he said, “Young lady, you are free.”

She paused. “What does that mean?”

“It means you are free.”

“Does that mean,” she asked, “that I can say whatever I want to say?”

Lincoln said, “Yes, my dear, you can say whatever you want to say.”

“Does that mean,” she said, “That I can be whatever I want to be?”

Lincoln said, “Yes, you can be whatever you want to be.”

“Does that mean I can go wherever I want to go?”

He said, “Yes, you can go wherever you want to go.”

The girl said, “Then I want to go with you.”