4th of July thoughts
It’s 10:20 PM on July 4, 2008.
I have spent a day with family and friends, celebrating the 232nd birthday of our republic. Fireworks are booming and popping outside as others celebrate this festive occasion.
Thoughts come to mind about the blessings heaped on this country by a Creator that loves us so much that He sent his Son to redeem us and all of mankind. We here have been blessed to live in the one of the safest and most prosperous parts of this planet.
People still stand in line and yearn to come to this country for the freedoms we have, the opportunities we enjoy, and the rights our government preserves for us. We are free from fear. We are free to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. The potential of this country is almost unlimited.
We have no long history of kings or emperors making subjects of us or enslaving us. We have no caste system that makes royalty out of a few and serfs out of many others. Our freedoms have allowed us to become a world power in the short time of 232 years. Our people have the opportunity to better their lives through their own industriousness and initiative. Our labor force is the mightiest on this planet.
Yet there are those who see nothing but problems in our country. They seek to curb our freedoms and our opportunities in the name of making things equal for all. They seek to put us under a heavy tax load in the name of having an all powerful government that provides everything for its subjects (excuse me, citizens). They seek to instill an attitude of entitlement that destroys the individual initiative that built this country.
They seek to make us slaves to the planet that we have been made stewards of. They seek to coddle those who would destroy this country. Some of these people are well meaning. Many of them are only seeking to elevate themselves to positions of power over others.
This group constitutes the enemy within that will be this nation’s greatest challenge for the next several generations. If this nation can conquer this group, the United States of America truly will be the mightiest nation on this planet. We will be the shining light on a hill for the rest of the planet.
Our chief exports will be freedom and prosperity that we generate and share with the rest of the planet. If we base our society on Judeo-Christian principles and faith in the Triune God, no nation or extremist religious movement will be able to stand against us.
If we fail to defeat this enemy from within, the United States will be relegated to the scrap heap of history, having been only one more democracy that lasted only slightly longer than the average lifespan of democracies - 200 years.
I am most thankful for what we have. I owe a debt of gratitude that I cannot repay to those who have fought to defend this country so that we can celebrate this 4th of July. And I continue to pray for the future of this country so that we may be a shining light to the nations and give future generations in this country the same that has been given to me.
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