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Near the corner of Joachim and Conti streets is this marker dedicated to Wallace Turnage. Wallace was born into slavery in the 1840s and lived near where this marker stands today. He began attempting escapes when he was thirteen years old, around the start of the U.S. Civil War. Wallace was caught several times and taken back to his owners, where he suffered terrible torture. However, he didn’t give up. Wallace finally made good on an escape in 1864, when he was seventeen years old. After spending several days and nights traveling through swamps, he made it to a Union ship and was finally free! Wallace Turnage was a determined, brave young man. Even after being severely punished for his escape attempts, he was determined to keep trying. He wanted his freedom. I’m asking myself what I need to escape from. Is it a thought pattern, a bad habit, or a sin? Evaluation and repentance are things I need to take to prayer regularly, and maybe you do, too. Jesus came to set us free. Sometimes He pulls us from our dark pits. But sometimes, we have to stop allowing things to own us. That means we have to want to be free from them. Here’s the good thing, though. If we fail, God is not going to torture us. He’s going to love us for trying. But, He wants us to keep trying, just like Wallace did. Did Wallace pray to God as he sat in the dark, surrounded by snakes and vexed by mosquitoes? Did he ask God to lead him to safety from his owners, tracking dogs, or even soldiers? I don’t know. I haven’t read the book about him, but I’d like to think that he did reach out to God for his freedom. And that as Wallace struggled, ran, and even failed, God was still cheering him on. He will do the same for you and me.
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