Ruslan Sitarchuk @ Dreamstime.com
A few nights ago, I dragged my tired legs into the truck and buckled in for the now familiar, three hours round trip to Ocala, FL via the back roads of the Ocala National Forest. For those of you who have never traveled the back roads of Florida at night, it can be quite the experience. There are not many illuminated areas, so it is rather dark, deer start creeping towards the road and on a couple of occasions a bear even makes an appearance. Inevitably, you see cars and trucks limping along, some with no headlights, others with just one dimly lit one. Multiple times you see people walking or riding their bikes while wearing dark clothes and it is only an act of God that prevents you from running them over. Then when you finally reach the center of the trip…out goes all cell coverage and you are now…alone with your thoughts. It was while we were coming up on the dreaded cone of silence when all of a sudden it sounded like a gun shot. The noise rang inside my head and then the truck started to sway, and the technology screen lit up and showed me the rapid decline of air pressure in my tire.
We managed to limp along a few feet and then we pulled into the vast field alongside the road and pulled off just enough so that we would not be impaled by any passing vehicles. Our rear back tire was flat as a pancake and had an air pressure reading of 0. We were out in the boonies, no light, just darkness and to make matters worse, it was like minus 10 degrees outside. (ok, well maybe it was in the 40’s but it felt cold for Florida). We got out of the truck to survey the damage and all we heard were wolves howling in the distance… Have you ever found yourself at that point when things were just overwhelming? Friends had turned to enemies? Bills were hitting you like a tsunami? Relationships crumbled; health suffered… As members of Bikers Against Trafficking, it seems that at times, our battle to eradicate human trafficking is anything but easy. Many people like to talk about it but not very many actually roll up their sleeves and sacrifice their time to make a difference. At BAT, we say we are the hands and feet of God and as such, sometimes, people don’t like what we do, and they spread lies…try to prevent us from the work we are doing. However, with God on our side, sometimes there are frustrating detours but, in the end, God always is glorified in what we do. We take our quest seriously and as we take a moment and reflect back on 2024 here is what we saw…
Our 2024 Impact Statement:
Events attended: 62
Speaking opportunities: 52
Podcasts: 5
Hours given away in free trauma counseling: 324 (a value of $48,600)
Volunteer Hours: 2,229
Chapter and Taskforce Meetings: 28
Court appearances/reports: 8
Extractions: 5
TV/Newspaper Interviews: 3
Housing Provided for how many? 391
Christmas event: Provided over 1,536 gifts for 384 kids in foster care or who have recently aged out.
Est. of how many individuals we spoke with about awareness in 2024: 21,550
When we take a moment and reflect on all the attempts to derail us from our mission and see what God has done in spite of it…we are speechless. PLUS, this does not even begin to count the hours and events the other Chapters outside of Florida racked up either. All in all, we are in awe of what God can do through just a few small people like us. There is no way that anyone can say, “they did this because they are special or different?” No, we are simply people who sacrifice and who allow a GREAT God to do things through us that ONLY He could do. As we gear up for whatever 2025 brings, it is our prayer that all of us would continue to let God guide us and that we would listen as He leads. (Oh, and by the way, it took about an hour, but we eventually got the tire off in the dark and got the spare on. It was an experience but praise the Lord no wolves attacked us while we worked.) No matter what you are facing. NEVER give up, don’t listen to the naysayers, resist the urge for revenge and simply trust in Jesus. He is the same yesterday, today and forever and He will give us all the strength to go forward in Him.
Peace out,
Doc and Rainey
The entire BAT team
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Donate at: https://bikersagainsttrafficking.org/
