Happy Independence Day!

It’s that time of year again. Fireworks, cookouts, gatherings, parades, speeches, watermelon…and on and on. I hope you have a safe and happy Independence Day weekend. While you are doing that, I also hope you will take a few minutes to reflect on America…on where we have come from and who we are as a nation. A good place to begin would be the Declaration. I would encourage you to pull it out and read it. 

Consider… “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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

America is so unique among nations. No one is guaranteed success, but all have the opportunity for it. It is written into our law. America began in humility before our Creator, not at the arrogant hand of a demagogue or king or dictator. Success in America was never intended to be passed from aristocrat to children through the generations. Success was recognized as a possibility for everyone. Our Founders placed God in His proper place, as the giver of those “unalienable rights”. They recognized that our freedoms don’t come from the Bill of Rights, from our Constitution, or from the subsequent laws that have been passed through the years. They recognized that our freedoms and rights as human beings come directly from our Creator. Our laws are there to protect those God given gifts.

Let us not look to Washington for our rights. Let us look to Washington to be sure they are protecting that which God has given us. There is much conflict in America right now. I suspect at its core, if we look honestly, we will find the absence of the humility of our founders, who placed our Creator in His proper place in their hearts, minds, and actions as they stood firm for human liberty. The cost was high for them and we, through the years, have reaped the benefit of their sacrifice.

I hope and pray that sacrifice will not have been lost on our, and future, generations of Americans.

Happy 4^th of July!!  Ka-Boom!