Can You Feel the Difference This Year?
Why does it seem that this year’s celebration of Independence Day is more than cook outs and ball games? Do you feel it too?
Without getting too mystical or prophetic on you, let me tell you why this year is different for me. I watch the news (much less than I used too, but I watch to keep up). I am checking headlines almost every day and reading articles of interest. Seems to me we are having a tougher time knowing who to believe and who to trust. Is that just me?
The pandemic brought so many conflicting stories of its origin, of its management, of its cure, of its protocols, or its actual impact. The lockdowns and the mandates have by any reasonable measure been worse than the disease. Somebody was lying to us, at least some of the time. For some of us, we are still not confident that the elections of the past few terms have been handled honestly, nor are we convinced that the ones going forward will be secure. Now, I know that many will disagree, and I am not saying what I believe about it all. I am just saying that there are questions still unanswered in my “humble but correct opinion”. 🙂
I decided to go back and look at where we, as a nation, started and the track we’ve been on for the 250 years of our history as a nation. Here are my conclusions:
- We are truly a uniquely established nation. If I am wrong tell me of another nation so intentionally set on the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God. I didn’t say a perfect nation but one with principles to become “a more perfect union”.
- Our Founding Fathers (and Mothers, I might add) for the most part were convinced before the American Revolution and after that God’s hand was on us, as a relatively small band of fighters defeated (with help from other nations for sure)the mightiest naval and military force in the world at the time.
- When Ben Franklin answered the question, “Doctor, what have you given us? A republic or a monarchy?” He answered, “A republic if you can keep it.” By God’s grace we have kept it. God has preserved our freedoms by His grace not on account of our merit. He used brave men and women in the preservation.
- We have as a nation fought and died to secure freedom and have often been able to preserve the republic against terrible odds. The American Revolution, the Civil War, WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq/Afghanistan, etc. Losing 100’s of thousands of lives to not only secure liberty but to make sure what we started and declared in our Constitution and Bill of Rights was actually true for groups of people who did not enjoy full equality or citizenship or the right to vote when we were first founded.
- Our Founding Fathers knew the sinfulness of people and our propensity to be greedy and power-hungry, so they established checks and balances to stem the tide and give freedom and liberty and individuals power to change things.
- Over the years more and more of the Constitution was ignored or interpreted to give more power to the federal government and less to the states and to the people in those states. I wonder how we can still ask people to take the Oath of Office when it is obvious that many have not intended to honor or protect its rule.
- I could go on, but I will list one more and then conclude the 52 Week Plan. Our failure to be led by honest, God-fearing, loving, respectful leaders has resulted in out of control spending, the deterioration of “one nation under God”, and the enactment of or simply by fiat the removal of laws and cultural standards that once held back the tidal wave of immorality and disrespect for women, abuse of individual rights, and even the breach of the sovereignty of our nation.
So what are we to do? We are to pray. We are to live out the freedoms and liberties to vote, to speak out, to support candidates we believe will lead us faithfully to God’s standards of decency, honor, and rule by law.
What am I going to do? I am going to pray, to speak out, to vote, and to pray some more that “God’s people, called by His name, will humble ourselves, seek His face, turn from our sin” and by God’s grace be present when He heals our land, forgives our sins (immorality, abortion, shedding innocent blood, dissolution of the family) and accepts our new wave of worship, love, and obedience to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
It is still a free county, and you can choose to do what you will, but for me and my house, “We will serve the Lord” and continue to invest in families, marriages, singles relationships that honor Jesus Christ that all may know there is a God in heaven and He rules over us, and He sent His Son so that we could be forgive and free…free indeed.