A Cord Of Three Strands

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Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. ~Ecclesiastes 4:12

A story that seemed way too sensational to be real came across my Facebook news feed the other day.  A girl from Xalapa, Mexico, on her way to World Youth Day, had her passport stolen, was extricated back to Mexico City where the authorities arrested her after finding 20 pounds of cocaine in her luggage.  They threw her in jail and her friends and family had 48 hours to prove her innocence before she'd be shuttled to a maximum security prison for a minimum of a year.  

Say what?!  

A friend posted it, swore it was real.  That the girl was a member of a sister community of the prayer group I belong to.  But my brain just couldn't wrap around this story as being something other than a hoax.  That sort of stuff doesn't happen in real life.  Does it?  I know this is Mexico and not the United States we're talking about.  And the laws are a bit...different than they are here.  

The next day I called my mom to ask if she'd heard the story.  Did she know if it was real?  Had the leadership in my prayer group heard about this?  She hadn't.  A few hours later I got an email from my sister, passing on the story.  Claiming it really is legit.

Wow.  

So we did our tiny little part here in Michigan for a stranger in Mexico with our only connection being that we belong to the same larger prayer group organization.  We liked the Facebook page that was started to help her be freed.  And we prayed.  

In the back of my mind I wondered, does "liking" a page on Facebook really even make a difference in a case like this?  What does some judge in Mexico care if a bunch of Americans on Facebook agree this girl should be freed?  

I know there is a whole lot more back story that I don't understand as I can't read Spanish well enough to translate the news articles and Facebook updates.  But I know enough that the Archdiocese of her local Catholic church got involved.  That the leaders of her local prayer group got involved.  But I do know this...

The page went viral.  The other social media stuff the youth in Mexico set up went viral.  It caught the attention of the media.  It caught the attention of the FBI.  The Attorney General in Mexico.  And all charges were dropped and she was freed within 48 hours.  

The media went nuts.  Asking her friends and family...how did you do this?  How did you get so much help and attention?  This is not normal.  

And this is where the truth of God's Word came in.  A cord of three strands is not easily broken.  By herself, she would have floundered in prison.  There would have been little hope of her being able to prove her innocence in two short days.  Even if it was just her family who stepped up to help her.  Maybe they could have done something.  I don't know them; I don't know their connections.  But my guess is it would have been difficult.  

Instead, the friends of this girl let off a battle cry.  They may have been a small group of people in a town in Mexico that I've never even heard of.  But they are connected to a much greater army through their love for Christ.  See, this prayer group we belong to made a commitment to stand by each other.  To pray for each other.  To help when needed.  To form a Bulwark, a wall, against evil.  

Satan picked the wrong girl to mess with.  Apparently he failed to realize that she wasn't all alone.  She had a world-wide army of prayer warriors who had her back.