WEBVTT - After the Revolution: Chapters Nine, Ten, & Eleven 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:02.400 What's up? Guys have a shop Aloud and I am 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:04.240 Troy Millions and we are the host of the Earnier 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:07.840 Leisure podcast, where we break down business models and examine 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:10.200 the latest trends in finance. We hold court and have 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:12.719 exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names of business, sport, 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.880 and entertainment, from DJ Khaled to Mark Cuban, Rick Ross 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:18.959 and Shaquille O'Neil. I mean our alumnilist is expansive. Listen 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:21.279 to as our guests reveal their business models, hardships and 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:23.759 triumphs and their respective fields. The knowledge is in death 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.680 and the questions are always delivered from your standpoint. We 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:28.680 want to know what you want to know. We talked 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:31.640 to the legends of business, sports and entertainment about how 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.120 they got their start and most importantly, how they make 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:36.760 their money. Earn your Leisia is a college business class 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:38.560 mixed with pop culture. I want to learn about the 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:41.400 real estate game, unclears, how the stock market works. We 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:43.800 got you interested in starting a truck and company or 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:46.760 vendor machine business. Not really sure about how taxes or 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:49.440 credit work. We got it all covered. The Earnier Leisure 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.519 podcast is available now. Listen to Earnier Leisure on the 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:56.440 Black Effect podcast Network, I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:04.160 or wherever you get your podcasts. Give us the attention. 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.360 We need. Everything you've got fast. Waiting on Reparations would 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:11.360 beat the podcast. Tune in every Thursday politics and wordplay. 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:13.360 We fight for the people because they got us in 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:16.160 the worst way, from the Hill Cooper, the Bombay to 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.399 Kanye from the left enclave to what the neo kanse 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:23.080 every Thursday heavy conversation and to break us off with 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:27.040 some break because we're waiting the reparations. Listen to Waiting 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:30.240 on Reparations on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:35.720 or wherever you get your podcast. Outer Space a vast 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:39.720 unknown frontier. We don't yet know the dangers that lurk 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:44.000 beyond the stars. But unfortunately for Captain Sidney Owens and 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:51.200 Jenna Prescott, they're about to find out. Magmaal from I 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:55.760 Heart Radio and Bamford Productions. Listen to Magmaal on the 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:59.960 I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:09.880 your podcast. Chapter nine, Sasha, they unloaded her in plain o. 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:12.760 The porters who cracked open her crate, two men in 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:17.080 dirty jumpsuits seemed disappointed. That she wasn't food. One of 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.720 the men was tall and balding, the others shorter and 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:23.320 still fairly young. They had white skin burnt reddish by 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:25.519 the sun, and neither of them looked like they bathed 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.760 in quite some time. Their faces were gaunt. Sasha didn't 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:32.160 see any extra fat on either of them. Add Dang, 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.720 said the tall one, welcome, said the short one. I 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:38.680 hope you're ready for what this is. They were not 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:42.160 exactly the welcome crew she'd expected. Saul had told her 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.000 a man named David would be waiting, but neither of 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.000 the porters knew who David was. They seemed much more 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:51.120 frustrated than joyous at her presence. The building wasn't what 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:54.080 she'd expected either. It looked like an old FedEx facility, 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:57.160 with all the branding covered by red spray paint. There 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.519 was trash everywhere, mostly food waste from rates of aid 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.640 supplies that had been opened too late. The spoiled food 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.200 had been shoved into large piles and left to rot 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.280 In one center of the large room. Sasha guessed this 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:11.799 had once been a loading dock where delivery trucks would 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:14.919 have dropped off and received packages. The room was filled 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:18.000 with a mix of aid crates and miscellaneous boxes stacked 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.720 into piles by a ragged army of tired looking men. 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:23.079 Like the two men who had greeted her, they all 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:27.040 looked malnourished and skinny. The only people not dressed in 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:30.400 blue jumpsuits were a pair of armed guards. They stood 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:32.280 in the back of the room, near a door that 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.280 seemed to lead deeper into the facility. Both men had 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:39.040 white paint crosses daubed across the body armor on their chests. 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.480 Both carried very large black rifles. One of them ran 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:44.800 over once he saw her emerge from the shipping crate. 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:48.400 Welcome to the heavenly Kingdom, ma'am, the boy drawled. He 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:50.720 looked young enough to have come from her own high school. 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:53.280 There was a dusting of acne on his unlined face, 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:55.880 and his round cheeks still held a bit of baby fat. 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.040 Thank you, sir, she said, and pointed to the cross 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.000 on his chest. It's good to see that. The young 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:05.960 martyr smiled, Yes, ma'am, we wear the cross here. He 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:08.760 glanced at the porters and narrowed his eyes. Most of 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:12.640 us anyway. He extended his hand. Sasha took it, and 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:14.760 he helped her take her first few steps into this 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.600 strange new world. Her legs felt wobbly and unstable after 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:21.600 so much time crammed into a crate. She was grateful 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.640 for the help. I'm looking for David, she said, Do 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:27.919 you know where I might find him? No David here, ma'am, 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:30.479 the martyr replied, But Darrell's the team leader for this 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.720 receiving yard. He'll set you to rights. They walked through 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:36.960 the rear door and into the building proper. Sasha's escort 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.599 guided her past old offices and break rooms into what 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.120 looked like it had been a waiting area for customers. 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:45.760 It had been transformed into an office. The only occupant 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:48.720 was a single man, surrounded by four folding tables, each 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:51.400 piled high with a mix of paper shipping manifests and 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.520 folding e paper displays. He sat in the middle of 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:57.520 it all and scrolled feverishly on a heavy government issue 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:01.920 tablet computer. This man, dar role, was tall and broad shouldered, 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:04.720 but stooped forward. It looked as if his spine had 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:07.760 been bent at the mids shoulders. Sasha relished the deep 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:10.279 lines on his face, the bags under his eyes, his 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.600 receding hairline, and even the way His joints popped audibly 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:16.400 as he stood when she entered. No man she'd met 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:19.880 in the American Federation had aged so honestly, not even 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.919 her father. Sasha realized with a start that this was 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.159 the first older man she'd ever really seen. He must 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:30.360 be fifty at least. Hello, sir, she started, ah nuts, 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.680 He spat not another one? Ee you. The man had 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:36.440 a thick drawl. He sounded country in a way Sasha 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.000 had only heard in movies. Her voice caught in her 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:42.279 throat as she tried to respond, Sir, I'm I'm looking 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.039 for David. It he grunted you and every other teenager 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.400 what's come through my depot? I'll tell you the same 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:51.880 thing I told them others. Ain't no David here. Sasha's 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:55.920 eyes widened, She squeaked, and immediately hated herself for it. No, 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:58.600 no David. Darrel must have seen the fear in her 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:03.080 face and taken pity, because his tone softened. Listen, I uh. 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:06.000 He glanced at the small screen wrapped around his wrist, 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:08.120 tapped it a couple of times, and looked back to her. 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:10.960 I got about fifteen minutes left herefore, I got a 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.920 mating downtown. I can drop you off. Folks there can 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.159 help you get set up if and you decide to stay. 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.240 I would appreciate that very much, Sasha said. Her face 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.080 reddened again when she asked, is there a restroom I 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.240 can use around here? I'd like to clean up a bit. Ye, 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:28.839 the man grunted and nodded towards a red door in 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:32.000 the back of his office. That's brabit no shower, but 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:36.240 the water runs. Sasha couldn't really smell herself anymore, which 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:39.680 she knew she probably smelled terrible. The thing she wanted 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:43.400 most was a long, hot shower with shampoo. Holy God, 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:47.760 she realized, shampoo is amazing. She was so preoccupied with 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:50.159 the thought of clean hair that she didn't even chastise 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.560 herself for the blasphemy. Sasha knew she wouldn't find shampoo 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:55.720 in this restroom, but any kind of clean was better 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.640 than her current level of filth. She thanked Darrell and 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:02.240 stepped into his bathroom. Sasha told herself it wasn't the 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.599 worst bathroom she'd ever seen, even though that was a 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:08.440 clear lie. The floor, once white tile, was so crusted 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:10.480 with black and yellow she could only tell they'd ever 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.680 bin tile by the slight suggestion of squarish shapes underneath 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:17.200 the filth. The toilet had been shattered almost completely. All 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.920 that remained was a little circle of busted ceramic around 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:22.200 a hole in the ground. It seemed to function as 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.120 a squat toilet. Now. The sink was intact, but it 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:27.160 also looked like it hadn't been cleaned at all in 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.720 the last year. The metal of the faucet was green 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.840 where it should have been silver. Sasha held her nose, 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.280 turned the hot water on and hoped for the best. 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:37.960 It took her a round minute to stop hoping for 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:40.760 hot water. Of course, this place didn't have a functioning 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.640 water heater. This is a war zone, you stupid girl, 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:46.600 Sasha cursed herself. She felt tears at the edge of 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:50.200 her vision, but fought them down. Slowly, deliberately. She pulled 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:52.600 off her top, undid her braw and hung both from 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:54.840 the door knob. As she did, she thought of the 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:58.560 Book of Romans. We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:03.760 suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:06.840 And hope does not put us to shame, because God's 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:09.119 love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.520 Spirit who has been given to us. The word of 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.720 God gave her some comfort, but Sasha's stomach still churned 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:18.520 as she scrubbed the grime from her body. She confronted 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:21.600 the fact that this was all real. Now. She'd fled 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.040 her home and her family, traveled to a war zone, 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:26.720 and now she was here. It was done. Her great 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:30.800 sacrifice was now real, not theoretical. The excitement she felt 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.400 that that realization was marred by an anxious kind of 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.679 horror at the things she'd never do now. She hadn't 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:39.920 really thought about that before she'd left, but now Sasha 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:42.800 realized that she was never going to graduate high school, 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:46.000 she'd never go to college, she'd never see her father's 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.880 face again. She started to cry. It surprised her a little. 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.600 For days now, her emotions had felt stunted, buried under 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:57.439 the very immediate concerns of escape and survival. But as 0:08:57.440 --> 0:08:59.679 soon as she had a minute to breathe, everything she 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:02.400 hadn't been able to let herself feel flowed out of 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:06.079 her eyes. First, she tried to fight it, but then 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:08.640 she remembered something Pastor Mike had written in one of 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:12.720 his columns for Revelator. Embrace your pain, for you will 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.920 hurt again. Embrace your grief, for it is a gift. 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:18.920 Lean into the wounds the world gives you. Have faith 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:21.640 that the Lord God does not send us burdens we 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.800 are too weak to bear. She'd left behind a world 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:28.640 where people denied their age with science, saved their pain 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:31.480 with narcotics, and fought the natural order of the world 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:35.079 the Lord had built. Sasha had wanted authenticity. She'd wanted 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:38.560 to live the truth of Christianity without compromise. That meant 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.079 leaning into this pain and letting it lift her up 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:45.200 into the arms of God. So Sasha leaned in. She sobbed, 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:47.840 and sobbed and sobbed, shook and shuddered with a pain 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:51.640 more profound than any she'd known before. And then she stopped. 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:54.640 She dried herself off, pulled her one fresh pair of 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:56.840 clothes out of her backpack, and got dressed to go 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:00.440 and meet the heavenly kingdom she'd sacrificed so much to join. 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:03.880 Darryl banked twice on the door right as she slid 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:07.000 on her socks. Ma'am, I gotta get moving. Maybe do 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:10.439 the make up later. Sasha shoved her dirty clothes in 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:14.800 her backpack, zipped it up, and opened the door. The 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:18.360 Heavenly Kingdom included rather more ship and bullet casings than 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.560 Sasha had expected. She'd known, of course, that it was 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:23.800 a war zone. The whole Kingdom was less than two 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:27.080 years old. Plaino had been taken just days ago. It 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:29.920 had all been won by blood and violence. She just 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:32.680 sort of figured the Army of God would have cleaned 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:36.640 up after itself. Darryll's truck was the oldest vehicle and 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:40.160 the first non autonomous one she'd ever ridden inside. It 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:42.920 was frightening to think that one person's movements were the 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:46.040 only thing that stood between her and a grizzly death, 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.520 but her fear at that soon faded into anxiety at 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.960 the state of the world around them. The signs identified 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.280 this as plain O. She knew the center of that 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:57.800 city had been a stronghold for the Republic of Texas 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:01.160 and its corporate masters. They'd been content to leave many 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:03.320 of the surrounding cities in the hands of the Heavenly 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:06.079 Kingdom since that had meant more work for the SDF 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:09.560 in Austin. Despite its proximity to the front, Plano's status 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.440 as a stronghold for some of the Republic's wealthiest citizens 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:16.800 and corporations had made it seem unassailable. The notoriously stingy 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:20.800 Republic had spent heavily on the city's garrison. Sasha still 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:23.880 didn't know what had happened, how a Republican stronghold had 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:26.760 fallen so fast, but she saw evidence of how the 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:30.560 fall had gone down all around her. The city was devastated. 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.040 They drove past a police station that was filled with 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:36.040 bullet holes and burnt black around its windows. They passed 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.520 an elementary school that looked as if it had been barricaded, 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.520 turned into a fortress, and then blasted apart with rockets. 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:44.320 The streets they rolled over had been cracked and broken 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:48.080 by shellfire. Sasha stared out with wide, excited eyes as 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:51.000 they passed mansions that had completely collapsed under the weight 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:54.240 of heavy bombardment, and all around them the streets were 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:57.000 filled with soldiers. There seemed to be a checkpoint every 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.920 two or three minutes. The martyrs who manned those checkpoints 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.600 looked impossibly young. That made Sasha feel a little less lonely. 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:06.320 This is what it looks like when a generation comes 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.800 back to God, she thought, at each stop. Darrel pulled 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.800 a laminated paper id out of his pocket. The soldiers 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:14.800 would take it, look it over, and then asked him 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:18.440 about her. None of them met her eyes. Just arrived today, 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:21.840 Darrell always said, she's here to help build the kingdom. 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:24.880 Thanks be to God was the usual reply. Some of 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.680 the men at the checkpoints were enthusiastic and shouted it 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.280 with all the joy she'd expected to hear, but a 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:32.280 few of them just looked at her with eyes that 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:37.080 were half sullen, half hungry. Darrell, she asked, twenty minutes 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:40.720 and three checkpoints into their drive, what exactly happened here? 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.040 I left home the day after plain Oh fell. It 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:46.400 felt like just such a miracle. It seems impossible for 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.120 things to change so much, so fast. Darrell fixed her 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:52.600 with a look that Sasha couldn't quite read and made 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.600 her nervous. The next words jumbled up as they left 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:59.160 her mouth. It's just I mean, I know all things 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:02.880 are possible through God, But how how did we win here? 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:06.280 From what I read on the news? The older man laughed, Well, 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.880 there's your problem. Trust in the news. You ain't gonna 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:12.000 read much true about Texas. There all those foreign papers 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:15.679 love the s DF. He spat out the window for emphasis, 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.400 and they treat the Republic like a real government, not 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:21.000 like a collection of robber barons and their hired guns. 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.400 Truth is, their position was always rocky. People around here. 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:26.360 You'd rather live under God's law than the rule of 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:30.000 the rich or those Prance and Austin faggots. He spat again, 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:33.160 and somehow made the gesture look like an apology. Sorry 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:35.200 for the curse, Miss Sah, It's been a minute since 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:38.720 I spent much time around a woman. She smiled in response, 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:41.120 because she wasn't really sure what else to do. And 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:43.680 then they turned a corner pasted a mostly intact line 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.000 of shops and a sign that welcomed them to downtown 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:48.800 plan Oh. The wide streets had been cordoned off by 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:52.440 sandbags and what looked like enormous fabric cubes filled with rocks. 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:55.800 Several dozen armed men milled about, and in the center 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.400 of the broad thoroughfare, Sasha saw what could only be 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:00.360 a gallows built right in the middle of the two 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:04.400 lane street. It was her first gallows. Capital punishment was 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.240 illegal in the American Federation. She stared horrified at the 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:10.800 way the six corpses strung up there swung to and 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:14.480 fro with the breeze. Sasha squeaked just a bit in shock. 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:18.559 She was glad the bodies weren't very close. Darrell seemed 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:20.960 to notice her discomfort. He looked down at her with 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:24.400 a mix of pity and understanding, ain't always pretty what 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:28.480 we're doing, but it's the Lord's work. The truck rolled 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:30.800 to a stop outside of a large red brick building 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:33.520 that reeked of government. Sasha couldn't tell what it had 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:36.520 once been. The sign was too thoroughly burned. A new 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:39.720 sign made of white vinyl identified this building as the 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:43.800 House of Miriam. This be your stop, ma'am. Darrell said 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:46.920 thank you. She forced a smile and then asked, should 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:50.440 I just go in? I'll walk in, how about that? 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:54.840 Sasha nodded her gratitude. She wasn't a hundred percent sure 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.400 what was supposed to happen at this point. Revel latter 0:14:57.480 --> 0:14:59.560 had claimed that every man and woman who journeyed to 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.600 the Heavenly Kingdom would be given meaningful work, food, and 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.720 as much shelter as the martyrs can provide. She knew 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:07.560 that she could expect to be housed with other young, 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:11.120 unmarried women at least until she and Alexander were finally together. 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.760 But this trip and the Heavenly Kingdom was already so 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:18.520 very different from everything she'd expected. That was reinforced when 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:20.800 she stepped out of the truck and directly onto a 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.960 pile of spent bullet casings. There were burnt cars in 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:26.600 the street, burnt buildings all around her, and a vague 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:29.280 but persistent smell of sour milk in the air. The 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:31.560 feeling of dread that had built inside her since she 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.720 had left the crate hit a new crescendo, and then 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.600 Darrell took her inside the House of Miriam, and everything 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:41.160 changed again. Sasha saw a middle aged woman sitting behind 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:43.360 a desk in a big white room while younger women 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.320 sat and lined the walls around her. The older lady 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:48.680 had loose, friendly jowls and a mop of gray hair 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:52.000 tossed into a lazy bun. She looked exhausted until the 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:55.080 moment she fixed eyes on Sasha. At that moment, her 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:57.640 eyes lifted, along with her lips, into a smile that 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.920 was the truest thing Sasha had ever seen. Praise be 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:04.080 to God, She cried, You've made it, and then a 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.880 sea of girls rose up around her. Most of them 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.720 appeared to have been sewing up military uniforms, but at 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:11.960 the moment's call, every one of them set their work 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:14.880 down and rose up to meet her. Sasha was swarmed 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.680 by a sea of smiling faces, as girls pressed their 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:20.680 hands to hers, or embraced her, or prayed over her 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:23.680 and chanted in tongues. A dozen people told her their 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:26.960 names at once. Sasha went stiff at first, shocked and 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:29.800 a little mortified by the mass display of physical affection 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:33.000 by so many strangers. But then the older woman made 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:34.960 her way through the crowd and put her hands on 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:38.480 Sasha's shoulders. She brushed a stray hair out of Sasha's 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:40.720 face and fixed her with a smile that was more 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:44.440 motherly than Sasha's actual mother had ever been. It's all 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:46.880 right now, she said, in a voice that was pure comfort. 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.800 I'm sure you're probably feeling frightened and overwhelmed, but you've 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.680 reached the heavenly kingdom. Loose yourself from the chains around 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:59.520 your NECKO, captive daughter of Zion. Your home now. Something 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:01.840 about the woman's voice and the way her hands felt 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:05.200 broke through the anxious wall around Sasha's heart. She found 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.120 herself in the older woman's arms. She sobbed, and then 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:10.800 she felt the press of bodies close against her. The 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:14.440 mingled sense of lavender, citrus and human beings filled her nose. 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:17.600 It comforted Sasha in a way she'd never quite known. 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.159 The anxiety and fear were gone now, but so was 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:24.960 any sense of motive inspiration. She let her sisters guide 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.000 her to a pillow on the ground. The room got 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:31.760 very busy. Girls scattered. They heated up water and prepared food, 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:35.080 and generally bothered themselves with every aspect of Sasha's comfort. 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:37.960 Soon she had coffee and buttered muffins and a heavy 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:40.960 jug of gatorade. A fan was moved into position where 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.520 it could blow more cool air onto her face. The 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:46.560 older woman sat down next to Sasha and started to speak. 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.840 My name is Helen, she said. I watch over the 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:52.320 newcomers here, and I helped him adjust to life in 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.159 the heavenly Kingdom. The most important thing for you to 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:58.240 know is that you are loved and wanted. Here. You'll 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.719 have food and shelter into purpose. Do you understand that, darling? 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.120 Sasha tried to smile, but realized her face was still 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:07.919 stuck in the same absent grin she'd worn since the greeting. 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:14.040 After a long pause, she managed to nod and speak, yes, er, sorry, Sasha, 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:16.960 my name is Sasha Marian. I'm from Virginia in the 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:22.199 American Federation, Sasha, Helen said, just Sasha, we have no 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:25.359 last names here and no nationalities beyond our allegiance to 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:30.640 God and his heavenly kingdom. Do you understand? Sasha nodded yes. 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:33.520 I mean, of course, I've I read every issue of 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:36.480 Revelator before coming here. I know that nations and states 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:38.959 are a worldly concept that only serves to separate us 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:42.399 from God Almighty. I memorize, Pastor, It's one thing to 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:45.679 read the truth, it's another to live it. Don't worry, child, 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.119 It'll take some time to unlearn your old habits. Helen 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:51.359 had cut her off, but she'd done it so gently 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:53.840 that Sasha didn't even take it as a rebuke. She 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:57.280 just nodded again, and then she remembered something. I need 0:18:57.320 --> 0:18:59.760 to find a young man. His name is Alexander. He's 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:02.120 in a recognized infantry unit. I think he's a corporal, 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:03.760 and I have a picture of him printed out in 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:07.320 my bag. If it will help, Dear Helen's voice dropped 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:09.760 an octave. I know this is hard to hear, but 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.719 the martyrs have important work to do. They fight that 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:15.720 we might build the heavenly Kingdom if the Lord sees 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:18.720 fit to deliver him safe from the fray. Sasha really 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:21.320 didn't like the way she said. If then we will 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:25.080 find him and reunite you two. Re Sasha gave a 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:28.720 nervous laugh. Oh no, we we've never met except for online. 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:31.400 He convinced me to come. I mean, I didn't come 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:33.760 for him, but I was really on the fence until 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:37.399 I met him. Helen's expression shifted. She looked was that 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.840 anguished or angry? But Sasha didn't detect any anger in 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:43.840 her voice when she replied, I know it's hard, love, 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:46.480 but you're going to need to wait to hear from Alexander. 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:49.000 For right now, it should be enough that you're here, 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:52.680 you're safe, You've done it. Do you know what this means. 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:56.359 It means I didn't get caught. Helen laughed. She had 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:58.920 a beautiful laugh. Sasha wanted to curl up and fall 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.760 asleep inside it. No. I mean well, yes, of course, 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:05.359 she said, But more than anything, it means that for 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.520 all time, forever and ever, You're a person who made 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:11.000 the choice to be brave. You took a leap into 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:13.520 the dark and trusted that God's light would rise to 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:16.840 meet you. There were tears in her eyes, genuine tears 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.600 wrapped up in genuine wrinkles and laugh lines that had 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:22.639 never felt the touch of a surgical laser. That's the 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:25.760 most beautiful thing in the world, Helen said, I want 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:29.440 you to know that. Sasha started to cry too. Helen 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:33.040 embraced her, held her close, and Sasha was certain she'd 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:43.520 never been happier. What grows in the forest trees, Sure, 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:47.040 no one else grows in the forest. Our imagination, our 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:50.680 sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow too, because 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:57.000 when we disconnect from this and connect with this, we 0:20:57.040 --> 0:21:00.800 reconnect with each other. The forest is so then you think, 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:04.440 find a forest near you and start exploring. I Discover 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:06.919 the Forest dot Org, brought to you by the United 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:10.960