There is no way we can repay our veterans, but we can say thank you at every opportunity. We, and free people the world over, owe them an enduring and resounding THANKS on this Veterans Day. Our veterans have not only protected our freedom but have done the same for people all over the world.
This altruism reached new levels when our armies joined England and France to engage in the "war to end all wars." In 1918, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month, the world rejoiced and celebrated. After four years of bitter war, an armistice was signed. The war was over. America had entered the fray late but was essential to the final Allied victory. It was a costly venture in lives lost, crippling injuries, and through the deadly influenza they brought back with them.
It must be the spark of God within us that enables brave soldiers to be willing to lay down their lives for a people and a cause about which they could rightly say, “we have no dog in that fight.” Unless, of course, it is the wish that all should have access to those “unalienable rights” for which young men fought another costly war—one that established our great country.
We all know the “rest of the story;” one that seems to have no end. America has been so blessed that we cannot resist helping the oppressed of the world. Even between wars, we offered help in rebuilding nations that we had defeated. Along with Great Britain and at the insistence of President Truman, we embarked upon the Berlin airlift to keep Berliners alive when Russia cut off all land routes to them. That, too, was an amazing and seemingly impossible task.
Those who experienced it in Europe and the Pacific knew first-hand the enormity of the personal sacrifice of our people and appreciated greatly all their efforts. Unfortunately, future generations seem to see us as greedy, self-centered, unsophisticated interlopers. Funny, though, they know where to call when in need.
We can’t deny that America has its share of citizens who fit that description. However, our national soul, for the most part, remains centered on Jesus’ command to “do unto others…”
May it never change!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Walking on the Fighting Side of Me
Daily, right here in America, our country is being disparaged—not only by the Michael Moores and other fringe elements—but by our highest leaders. We have come to expect it from vapid television such as The View and most of the mainstream media. But when our president is constantly apologizing for what he perceives as intolerance to anything that moves except pro-life Christians, it reminds me of the lyrics of an old country song: “When you’re runnin’ down my country, you’re walking on the fighting side of me.”
Clearly, these people have no idea of what it means to be an American. They don’t understand that “freedom isn’t free.” Since prayer was removed from the school by a power-grabbing Supreme Court, our history has been rewritten by America haters. They have taken comments by Thomas Jefferson to mean that God should not be mentioned publicly or allowed to affect our conduct. Jefferson had no say in the writing of our Constitution, but he did pen our Declaration of Independence. Most of us (or those who were schooled before all this took place) remember his words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The Founding Fathers constantly appealed to God for guidance and guide them He did! How else could we have won the Revolutionary War? Think of all the times George Washington was defeated in battle. Many thought him a poor general but he was a great leader of men. Remember the Crossing of the Delaware, a turning point in the war that resulted in the victory over the Hessians at Trenton? That surprise attack from the frozen river by a bunch of rag, tag—some even shoeless—men whose enlistment would be up by the first of the year, showed the Hand of God was with them. Not one American casualty! Just as the Israelites cried out to God and were heard, so it was with the members of the Constitutional Convention. When an impasse seemed impossible to bridge, Benjamin Franklin (not known for being overly religious) called for seven days of prayer and fasting. Sure enough, when they reconvened after those seven days, an agreement was forged that would ensure our nation of a workable constitution. That same constitution is daily being attacked by ignorant or uncaring politicians who have lost nothing and gained great personal wealth in trashing our country and our constitution.
This is not the first time America has come perilously close to becoming just another nation who would lose its connection with the Almighty God and thereby join the list of former world powers. We are not, nor have we ever been perfect. Our country and our people, like everyone else in the world, still suffer from the sins which resulted in our Fall in Eden. We have endured a devastating civil war and the Trail of Tears made possible by another power-grabbing president, Andrew Jackson, who told the Supreme Court when they ruled on the side of the Cherokees to try to stop him if they could; we have had our share of punishments as a result. Throughout these and other times of our turning away, He allowed us to suffer the consequences but, time after time, has heard our prayers of repentance and once again, turned His face toward us.
Our fight is not one with guns and swords this time, but with voices, votes, and action within our neighborhoods, towns, states, and throughout the nation. As of now, we still have these “unalienable” rights. It’s high time we used them!
Clearly, these people have no idea of what it means to be an American. They don’t understand that “freedom isn’t free.” Since prayer was removed from the school by a power-grabbing Supreme Court, our history has been rewritten by America haters. They have taken comments by Thomas Jefferson to mean that God should not be mentioned publicly or allowed to affect our conduct. Jefferson had no say in the writing of our Constitution, but he did pen our Declaration of Independence. Most of us (or those who were schooled before all this took place) remember his words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The Founding Fathers constantly appealed to God for guidance and guide them He did! How else could we have won the Revolutionary War? Think of all the times George Washington was defeated in battle. Many thought him a poor general but he was a great leader of men. Remember the Crossing of the Delaware, a turning point in the war that resulted in the victory over the Hessians at Trenton? That surprise attack from the frozen river by a bunch of rag, tag—some even shoeless—men whose enlistment would be up by the first of the year, showed the Hand of God was with them. Not one American casualty! Just as the Israelites cried out to God and were heard, so it was with the members of the Constitutional Convention. When an impasse seemed impossible to bridge, Benjamin Franklin (not known for being overly religious) called for seven days of prayer and fasting. Sure enough, when they reconvened after those seven days, an agreement was forged that would ensure our nation of a workable constitution. That same constitution is daily being attacked by ignorant or uncaring politicians who have lost nothing and gained great personal wealth in trashing our country and our constitution.
This is not the first time America has come perilously close to becoming just another nation who would lose its connection with the Almighty God and thereby join the list of former world powers. We are not, nor have we ever been perfect. Our country and our people, like everyone else in the world, still suffer from the sins which resulted in our Fall in Eden. We have endured a devastating civil war and the Trail of Tears made possible by another power-grabbing president, Andrew Jackson, who told the Supreme Court when they ruled on the side of the Cherokees to try to stop him if they could; we have had our share of punishments as a result. Throughout these and other times of our turning away, He allowed us to suffer the consequences but, time after time, has heard our prayers of repentance and once again, turned His face toward us.
Our fight is not one with guns and swords this time, but with voices, votes, and action within our neighborhoods, towns, states, and throughout the nation. As of now, we still have these “unalienable” rights. It’s high time we used them!
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