Let Freedom Ring - Day 1

This week leads to the celebration of the Independence Day. If we learn anything from this celebration, it should be that freedom is not free. It comes with a price, and that price is the blood of men and women who stand in harms way to protect the lifestyle that we, all too often take for granted. I have decided to do a mini-music marathon in honor of Independence Day. I love patriotic music. More often than ever before, these songs bring a tear to my eye and fill my heart with pride. May we never forget the source of our freedom comes from our Creator and the instruments of that freedom are our men and women in uniform.  Enjoy the music, celebrate the day, and give thanks for the privilege of living in the greatest country in the world.

Not Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday USA!

“God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel”  Benjamin Franklin – Constitutional Convention of 1787,  original manuscript of this speech

 



"Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature.... If the next centennial does not find us a great nation ... it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces."
James Garfield, the twentieth president of the United States, 1877





"We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."
Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation





Celebrate Freedom. Celebrate Family. Celebrate the memory of those who gave their last full measure of life for those values that we cherish.  Celebrate the God of all creation and give thanks that His grace has place us in the greatest nation on earth.  May we NEVER lose sight of His blessings on our country and that God is indeed the source of everything that we hold dear.  Have a blessed Holiday.

The Celebration Continues