Independence Day 2024

Happy Independence Day, everyone!  Freedom is a wonderful thing.  Last night we drove to town.  Our town has a population of 9,375 people and I think every last one of them was in town preparing to watch a fireworks display put on on the 3rd of July.  In the past, fireworks were set off by the fire department in the Oil & Gas Park.  They now set them off at the Jennings airport at 9PM.  At 8:45 crowds of people filled the park, facing south ready for the show.  There was a live band on the stage playing.  

The park was so full of people, we were afraid we wouldn't find a parking spot.  Right next door, though, there is a nursing home.  Our church has services there for the resident on the third Wednesday each month.  We decided to pull in the parking lot there and park to watch the fireworks display.  It was a touching sight.  The nurses had the residents in the parking lot in their wheelchairs all lined up to see the show!  Beautiful!  After twenty minutes of oohs and ahhs and a grand finale, we headed home.

On the Fourth of July we drove to Kinder for hot dogs, hamburgers, sausage and snacks with my Mom and Dad and Jenny and Brett and their whole family.  Before eating, we did what we always do.  We held hands in a big circle that stretched across two rooms and Dad returned thanks to the Almighty for our great country, our family, our health and all the many blessings He has bestowed upon us.

Faith, Family, Freedom and Food...

And when the prayer ended with "in Jesus' Name, Amen," we lined up to eat.  And we ate!

We had Root Beer floats and Bomb pops and cut a locally-grown watermelon and enjoyed each other's company.

We should keep our Nation and our Nation's leaders in our prayers, whether we agree with them or not.  I was thinking about the Preamble to the Constitution the other day:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense...  and the list goes on.  All honorable and laudable goals.  I realize that those things won't be realized in perfection until our Lord returns, but I pray that our constitutional republic and this experiment in liberty will continue to stand.  We lift our Nation and it's leaders up to the Lord in prayer.  May God Bless America!

 

Happy Independence Day!

It was July 2, 1776 and the Continental Congress had just voted for independence.  Two days later, representatives from the 13 colonies approved of the Declaration of Independence that was written by Thomas Jefferson.  246 years later and here we are.  United States of America.  Most days it doesn't feel like we're very united.  In fact, divided seems like a more appropriate word to describe us.  Seeds of discord have been sown and the harvest appears ripe and plentiful...

However, don't count us out yet.  I still believe America is a great nation.  We were founded on great principles by great men with an ambitious vision and goals.  God has used our nation as a force of good in the world.  We are not perfect.  We have our warts and battle scars our sins and follies.  Over the years we've made mistakes, committed sins, and heck, we've even fought against our own fellow citizens in a bloody war.

Division.  It's nothing new.  Israel was once divided into the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom.  This morning in Bible Study we studied about King Asa in the book of 1 Kings.  King Asa did not have a good role model to follow.  His daddy didn't serve the Lord.  His grandpa didn't serve the Lord.  King Asa, however, made a stand.  He was desirous of turning the nation back to the one true living God.  He repented.  He removed perversion from the temple and idolatry from the land.  The Bible said that his heart was "wholehearted" in following God.  People's hearts turned back to God.

Am I saying there's hope?  America has stumbled, but it is not too late for God to revive us again, if that is His will for us!  The Bible calls us to pray for our leaders.  We must pray that our leaders, as King Asa did, reverse course, and turn us back to God.  We may not agree with their decisions or policies.  We may find it hard to pray for those we adamantly disagree with, but we must.  Our nation can heal if we turn back to God.  I love my country.  I am proud to be an American, and I'll proudly fly Old Glory.

Happy Independence Day.  May God Bless America.

The Red, White, and Blue

 

We watch very little television at our house, so we sometimes aren't completely up to date on current events, but I have seen some reports about growing numbers of athletes and other malcontents that are ashamed of our country and are not proud of America.  Some are even wanting to do away with Old Glory, our flag, and replace it with another.

This saddens me greatly.  While people certainly have freedom to have opposing viewpoints, I couldn't feel more differently.  I am proud of the United States of America.  We fly the American Flag every day at our house and so do many of our neighbors.  We stand for the national anthem.  My grandfather fought in the Battle of the Bulge in WWII to preserve freedom that we hold so dear in this great country.

Does America have warts?  Of course!  But what country doesn't?  We are all fallible humans born with a sinful nature, so of course we're going to have a past.  But we have freedom!  And opportunity!  And Self-determination!  There are forces that wish to divide us and the cracks of division appear to be growing.  We should not fall prey to this tactic.  United we stand.  Divided we fall.

We will always fly the flag.  We will always pray that God may Bless America and that we will turn our hearts back to Him.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.  Psalm 33:12

Risking It All - Happy Independence Day!

I am proud to be an American.  I am grateful that the founders of this great country valued liberty over security.  I ran across this video below.  It is 9 minutes and 54 seconds and is a history lesson taught by the beloved Paul Harvey.  I miss that man.  This is worth your time.  The Founding Fathers of our country risked it all.  They pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.

Happy Independence Day to you and yours.  Paul Harvey

Freedom

"If liberty is to be saved, it will not be by doubters, men of science, or materialists; it will be by religious conviction, by the faith of the individuals who believe that God wills men to be free." -- Henri Amiel, Swiss philosopher 

Freedom.  What a beautiful thing.  On Memorial Day yesterday, we sat in the back yard and barbecued some chicken raised on Our Maker's Acres and enjoyed some peaceful family time together.  I hope you did the same.  We talked about the soldiers who gave their lives so that freedom and the American way of life might be preserved.  What bravery!  What courage!  What conviction!

We talked about how differently things might be today had America not mobilized its forces and fought against the evil of the Nazis and Japan.  The entire country unified and worked shoulder to shoulder to support the war effort.  Rationing took place. Victory Gardens were planted.  Civilian industry quickly switched gears to begin manufacturing wartime supplies.  Would this take place today?  Do we have the steely resolve we once had?

It is easy to ask these rhetorical questions.  It is easy to look outward instead of inward.  I read Eleanor Roosevelt's prayer, and thought it was thought provoking:

Dear Lord, Lest I continue My complacent way, Help me to remember that somewhere, Somehow out there A man died for me today. As long as there be war, I then must Ask and answer Am I worth dying for? – Eleanor Roosevelt’s Wartime Prayer

That is a sobering thought!  And it makes me want to be a better person.  Great men's blood seeped into the soil of foreign lands in a supreme sacrifice.  I am proud to be an American.  It is the greatest land on earth.

As I think of Freedom, I would be remiss to not mention the greatest sacrifice ever made.  That of Jesus dying on the cross - for me.  For you.  But He rose from the dead and defeated sin and the grave!

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  2 Corinthians 3:17 

The freedom spoken of in that verse is above and beyond the freedom we've talked about.  No, this freedom conveys freedom from the yoke of sin, freedom from former blindness to the things of God, freedom from the fear of Hell.

May the blinders come off.  May we come to know Him.  May we walk in that Freedom as Christ intended!

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”  - John Adams

 

Remembering The Sacrifices on Memorial Day

Image Credit

First, I wanted to send a shout-out to a dear lady in North Georgia whose husband had Coronavirus and has recovered at home and is now doing well.  My uncle told me about you, and Tricia and I are so happy that things are going better!  Your husband's recovery is a true testament to persistence, perseverance and fight - not to mention good care by you!  Great job.  Stay healthy!  God Bless You!

Today I just want to post a short thought about how I am so proud to be an American.  We drove to visit my parents and went down backroads in the country.  Out in front of homes and flying high above every cemetery we passed was Old Glory - the Stars and Stripes, flying high and proud.  I love seeing patriotism and a deep and abiding love for our Country.  We can never take what we have for granted.  It is so precious.

Sure we have our warts and disagreements, but it is this idea of freedom that unites us.  Freedom so precious that men and women have given their lives on fields of battle across the globe to preserve that freedom that we get to enjoy.  I never want to take those sacrifices for granted.  Because of their sacrifice, we can peaceably assemble, we can worship, we have freedom of speech, a free press, we can move about the country...  The list goes on and on. 

Lee Greenwood said it best, "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free.  And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me, and I'll gladly stand up next to you and defend Her still today, 'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land, God Bless the USA!" 

Happy 243rd Birthday, America!

This morning I woke up and hung Old Glory on the front porch.  I immediately thought of how blessed I am to be living in the United States of America.  I love our country.

Oh sure, we have our warts.  But I am proud to be an American.  I am thankful for the freedoms that we are able to experience.  The blood of patriots afforded this opportunity to me, and I won't forget it or take it lightly.

May we as a people unite as our Pledge says and "be One Nation Under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

God Bless America!

I'm Proud to be an American

I got off work today and raced to the polls, making it there right at 6 pm.  With the new time change, it is already getting dark.  I don't like this new time - at all.  But that's enough griping and complaining.  I am so thankful for freedom.  I am so proud to be an American where each person's vote counts.  Each person, regardless of how rich or poor, if they live in a rural area or urban area, no matter their skin color, religion, creed, or sex, if they are meat eaters or vegetarians, if they cheer for LSU or Alabama, each person's vote counts.  Each American citizen gets one vote and has the opportunity to exercise their civic duty in order to make their voice heard on issues that mean something to them.  It astounds me that there are some that don't exercise this privilege.

At our little polling place in the country, they pull the fire trucks out of the barn and open the local volunteer fire department to the public for polling.

The ladies working the precinct are always so friendly.  They have ziploc bags of homemade cookies laid out on the table and a big magnalite pot of something that smelled really good cooking on the stove.  I asked them how voter turnout was and they said it was HUGE.  That is a good thing.  They directed me into one of the four voting booths and I pulled the curtain behind me and cast my vote.

What a blessing it is to be an American!  As I think back in Bible times, the Israelites didn't have a say in their governance while they were in bondage under Egyptian rule.  In Jesus' time they didn't have a real voice as the Romans or corrupt Jewish rulers ruled over them.  But we have a voice and when our side wins or our side loses, there is a peaceful transition of power.  There are not military coups or overthrows of government in the middle of the night.  We don't live in some banana republic.  This weekend we'll celebrate veteran's day and will be able to honor those who served our country, preserving our right to vote, among others.  I am thankful for their service.

Win or lose, the sun will rise in the eastern sky and we'll wake up and go to work in the morning, come home in the evening and sit around the supper table, holding hands with family members and give thanks for our food, our family and for the opportunity to live in the greatest country in the world.  Does our country have problems?  Sure.  Are we perfect?  Of course not.  Freedom is a blessing though, and I'm proud to be an American!

God Bless the USA!

Image Credit

Happy Birthday, America!  Today was a great day to think about how blessed we are to live in the United States of America.  While milking the cows this morning, I sang "God Bless America" and this evening before supper, we sang "America the Beautiful."  Our country has it's problems, but we truly live in a great land. 

The freedom that we have in our country is so precious.  The freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of association, the right to assemble and to petition government.  The big one that I think of the the freedom of religion.  I am thankful that we still have the right to assemble and worship at the church of our choosing.

In a sermon this past Sunday at church I learned about a gentleman named John Leland.  I learned more about him IN THIS POST.  He was a prominent Baptist preacher in Virginia who petitioned his legislator, James Madison, that more needed to be done to ensure religious liberty in the new country.  Here is a snippet from the article referenced above:

Since Baptists represented a significant portion of the vote in Madison’s district, Leland’s threat to run for Madison’s seat in the House of Representatives resulted in a visit by Madison to his home. Coming out of that meeting was a compromise that included Leland agreeing not to run for Madison’s seat and Madison agreeing to champion Leland’s and his fellow Baptists’ concern for religious liberty. Madison kept his word and pushed for the Bill of Rights. Without Baptist involvement in the political process, it is at least possible that the protection of religious liberty from Congress would not exist. 

In fact, it was a group of Baptists in Danbury, Conn., concerned about the infringement of the newly formed federal government upon the consciences of American citizens, to whom Thomas Jefferson responded in a letter with the famous expression of “separation of church and state” that has become such an important part of the American discussion concerning religious liberty. This expression was a summary of the rights guaranteed in the first amendment that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

The fact that our churches are NOT state churches and the fact that the government cannot prevent you from worshiping at the house of worship of your choosing is, to me, a very important issue and one of the many reasons I value being a citizen of the United States of America.

America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.  -Alexis de Tocqueville

Is America Great?

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers - and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce - and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution - and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.

WOW!  What a great quote!  It has been attributed to Alexis de Toqueville from his book, Democracy in America, but the quote is nowhere to be found in that book. President Eisenhower used that quote in a speech and credited 'a famous philosopher.' Whoever wrote it deserves kudos and not just for introducing me to the word commodious, which I fully intend to incorporate into my vocabulary!

Regardless who the author was that penned those words, I think it brings up good points to ponder:  Is America great?  Is America good?  Have we started to descend from a truly great country to a mediocre one or worse?  I don't want to be overly pessimistic or alarmist, but I think one would have to not be paying attention to conclude that we're heading in the right direction.

Psalm 33:12

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.

Cornerstone

I read a statistic that was pretty startling: In a recent Gallup poll, 40% of Americans say they go to church every Sunday, but in truth, less than 20% are actually in church.  So not only are a sizable proportion of Americans not attending church, but they are lying about being there.  I've read much about this and the reasons for this falling away are many.

I think it needs to be understood that we have abandoned God.  He has not abandoned us.  I think it grieves Him to see how we have turned our backs on Him. We have become more coarse as a people and our morals and values are no longer derived from the Bible.  We now call good evil, and evil good.  We are greedy and materialistic and seek to fill a void in our lives with things instead of the God of the Universe.  As a result, we are empty and medicate ourselves with legal (and illegal) substances.  Suicides are on the increase as people who are hopeless seek a permanent solution for a temporary problem.  Would the person who penned the quote I opened the post with still feel the same about America?

The author of that quote mentioned that when they went into America's churches, their pulpits were aflame with righteousness.  My Bible tells me that Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  If less than 20% of Americans aren't in church, and of those who are in church, some are in churches that aren't preaching the Word of God, I'd have to conclude that the author would not think America is good, much less great.

This is all very discouraging, I know.  So do we just give up?  What do we do?  Can we make a difference? There is a quote from the most recent 'Hobbit' movie that is relevant to this discussion:

Tauriel: When did we allow evil to become stronger than us?

Legolas: It is not our fight...

Tauriel: It IS our fight!

Legolas did not want to get involved, but we must get involved.  It is our fight.  We must get involved in our immediate families and work outward.  We shouldn't go try to change the world if we aren't first making an impact in our own homes.  Our first ministry is within our own families.  One day we'll all have to give an account before our Creator.  It is my humble opinion that the "pulpits of our households" should first be aflame with righteousness.  We should read the Word and let it guide our lives and teach it to our children. Our Almighty God can change lives.  When He changes lives our families will be better.  When our families are better our churches will be better and likewise with our nation.  To be honest, I'm not really concerned with the question, Is America Great? I'm more concerned about hearing the words, "Well done, my good and faithful servant!" from my Creator when I stand before Him.  Our Nation is not good and we are not good, apart from the changing work of our Awesome God!