How I Became a State Organizer

By Rebeca - RSOL Oklahoma

My story starts five years ago, when my dad, a pacifist Christian man who had been raised in and attended church all his life, went to prison for possession and Internet trafficking of child pornography. When we would visit him, he would try to get my mom and me to start working to get the laws changed. I don't know what my mom's excuses were, but mine went something like this. "I don't have time," "I don't know how," "I'm not a political activist," "I won't really be able to change anything." I never said most of these things out loud to my dad, I just kind of nodded in agreement when he told us to write our congressmen, and then didn't do anything about it. He'd also mail me websites to check out like the RSOL national website. I looked at some of them a couple of times, but I still didn't feel like it was something I could do anything about.

Partly I felt I was too busy trying to get on with my own life, partly I was scared of what others would think of me and my family if they knew the truth. The people in the small farming community where I grew up and where my dad lived most of his life, were and are for the most part supportive of him and his family because they knew him and knew that he would never harm anyone. My dad served on the school board and was volunteer fire chief for a number of years. The school superintendent even wrote letters to the judge on my dad's behalf. It wasn't these people I was worried about, it was the people who didn't know my dad and who he is that I thought would turn against me. However, as time went on, I started to become braver in sharing my story. Time and again I was amazed at how the people I told had their own stories of family members and friends who had been incarcerated. They understood. They didn't even condemn my dad because of what he did. But I still wasn't ready to act.

In December 2009, I interviewed the director of a local faith-based nonprofit for a regular news column I write about the nonprofit sector. The organization has a prison ministry in several area prisons. As I heard about the work the group was doing in the prisons, I began to get emotional, and the director asked me "do you know someone in prison?" I told her my story, and she prayed with me. As we were about to leave her office, she asked me, "what do you want for yourself?" I replied, "I don't know, " because for a while, I had had no major driving goals in life. She told me "You need to start praying that God will show you what he wants you to do." So I started praying for direction, but felt that God was telling me "you're not ready yet for what I have for you." I just kept praying and studying about discovering and following God's purpose and passion for my life.

Then, one Sunday evening in May, I heard on talk radio about the Supreme court decision upholding the extended civil commitment of sex offenders. I got both scared that my dad might not come home and mad at the terrible injustice perpetuated by the Federal "Justice" system. That evening, as I laid in bed, I felt God calling me to organize the RSOL group in Oklahoma. At first I was excited, still scared, and mad. I wanted to be sure that this conviction wasn't a product of those emotions. I slowly began to correspond with Alain, the RSOL state group coordinator and learning what the first steps were in becoming a state organizer. During this time, my family also experienced a major medical crisis that kept me stressed out for a few weeks. Finally, last weekend, when the crisis had truly passed, I was sure that my conviction was not going to go away. I read the guide to organizing, created a new email address, and started contacting the state supporters. After my first week working within and toward God's purpose for my life, I know I will be able to make a difference because it is Him working through me and others who will accomplish great things in the State of Oklahoma.