Replacing Old Glory

We fly the Stars & Stripes in front of our home every day - not just on Independence Day.  We love our country.  Is it perfect?  No, but it is the greatest country on earth.  Why?  Because of its people and because our Founders (who were not perfect people, but who is? I certainly miss the mark by a very wide margin), set up a system based on Judeo-Christian values, that has no comparison in the world.  If we are so greatly flawed, why to people continually flock to our shores to be a part of this great experiment in freedom?  The following quote has been falsely attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, but regardless who said it, I think it is true:

“Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the greatness and genius of America. America is great because America is good. If America ever ceases to be good America will cease to be great.”

Our flag, due to display in inclement weather, heat and cold, and the ravages of the sun, is ragged and worn, not unlike the flag in our National Anthem.  Ours doesn't have cannon ball holes in it fortunately.  But each morning when we wake and look out by the 'dawn's early light,' She's still there.  But She needs replacing.  It's shameful and unpatriotic to continue displaying the flag like this.

So earlier this week, I passed by a store and turned in.  I wanted to purchase a new flag to fly on Independence Day.

After getting my purchase home and beginning to take it out of the package, I noticed something that might be indicative of some of our problems in our country.  

Our American Flag.  Made in China.  I'm sure that there are American Flags made in America.  I hope they are.  I should have checked before leaving the store.  I want to support American workers.  Anyway, back at home, I took the old flag down and folded it as I was taught in Boy Scouts (RIP).  Tricia was out so I folded it by myself.  The final product wasn't as crisp as I'd been taught or as I taught my scouts.  My old scoutmaster would be disappointed in me.  I'd have to fold it again and again until I got it right.

I unfurled the new flag and displayed it as the other worn flag.  The colors were sharper and brighter.  There were no frayed, tattered edges as the old one had.  I felt a resurgence of pride and patriotism in what our flag stands for.  Freedom is so important.  Free people often take it for granted.  I never want to take it for granted.

In the photo above you can see a puddle of water beneath the column.  I'll tell you what that's all about.  When getting on a ladder to hang the new flag, I noticed a wasp nest about the size of a silver dollar with four nervous and aggressive wasps discussing amongst themselves where they were going to sting me when I got atop the ladder.  Not today, my friends.  I walked inside and got a small sauce pan of water boiling and added Dawn dishwashing liquid to it.  When it was appropriately hot, I took it off the fire and stirred it up.  Walking outside I sloshed the hot, soapy concoction up toward the wasp nest, covering it.  The four wasps fell to their deaths unceremoniously as I set the pan down and hung Old Glory.

The next project was to determine how to retire the worn flag.  You can burn it.  I didn't want to do that.  You can bury it.  I didn't want to do that either.  As it turns out, the Southwest Louisiana Veterans Home is in our town.  It is a nice place that treats our veterans with dignity and respect.  The place is immaculate and the workers love the residents.  I drove there down an avenue of flags that gently waved in the humid, summer air.

Right by the entrance there is a drop box for retired flags.  I deposited ours in the box.

Out with the old and in with the new.  I love America, and I'll continue to fly Old Glory.  She'll never come down and no other flag will replace her.  May God bless America!

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!

 

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day, Fellow Americans.  May God Bless America!

The boys came over and Tricia and I barbecued chicken, sausage, hamburgers, and grilled vegetables from the garden.  We had homemade vanilla ice cream served over warm blueberry cobbler.  It was delicious.  We hope you enjoyed your time with family as well.

I have been on a Paul Harvey kick lately, going back and listening to him speak.  He was a real treasure.  On Independence Day, I wanted to attach a video for you to watch about the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  I learned something about them and it made me respect them even more than I already did.

What GREAT men!  Not perfect men, but great men nonetheless.  There has only been one perfect man that walked this earth.  I strongly feel it is unfair to judge people in the past by standards of the present.  We have evolved in our thinking.  We have corrected past wrongs.  There is such a thing as learning from past mistakes and, yes, redemption.

Our founders were great men.  Men who risked it all.  I think you'll find this 9 minute video from Paul Harvey worth the time:

They mutually pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.  Because of that, we enjoy freedom.  May God Bless America and may freedom continue to ring!

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.

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

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