Faith and Freedom

from last year's Fourth

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." -John 8: 34-36

That freedom is what means the most to me.  Jesus Christ, by his life, death, and resurrection, has set me free forever from my slavery to sin.  As a result, I am now a child of my heavenly Father, and I have the promise of eternal life.

This freedom is one that will never be taken from me.  It will never be altered by human laws.  It will never change based on human whim.  It will never have conditions placed upon it.  It is mine, given to me by God, and I can trust that completely.

I live in a country where we treasure our freedoms.  We have fought hard and many have died to keep those freedoms we hold dear.  A day is coming when we won't have all those freedoms that so many worked so hard to earn and keep.  These human freedoms are the kind that won't always be guaranteed.  They are freedoms we may have to fight, once again, to have.  These are not freedoms I trust.

I am thankful for them.  They help make my life what it is.  God has used the laws of this country for good, and he will continue to do so.  Today I celebrate all the good that America is.

But I will never forget the perfection that is my God.

Lift every voice and sing

Till earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of liberty.

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listening skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us;

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun

Of our new day begun,

Let us march on till victory is won.

-"Lift Every Voice and Sing," stanza 1, James Weldon Johnson

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

Ten years ago, it seemed like the world was ending.
For a lot of people, over three thousand, it did.  Their time on this earth ended.
Their families and friends probably felt like the world was ending for them, too.  But they had to live through their pain and grief.  Ten years later, I'm sure they're still living through it.

It's at times like that when the whole world cries out, "WHY?!?"


Why does an all-loving God allow evil things to happen?  If God is supposed to be good, where was he when those planes crashed into the World Trade Center?  If those things happened, does he even exist at all?

I'm one of those people who firmly believes in the existence of an all-loving, all-good God.  Sometimes I wonder, too, why he lets things happen.

Why he lets young fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, die, before it seems they've lived their lives fully.  Why so many babies get aborted, gypped out of a life they should have lived.  Why wars happen.  Why diseases take the lives of hundreds, thousands.  Why tyrants control innocent people.  Why people starve and go without clothes or homes or money.

I even wonder why he lets annoying little things happen to me.  Why do I get sick?  Why do I sometimes not have money for the things I want and think I need?  Why do things go wrong?

Enough questions.  I have an answer:

I don't know.


I don't always know why bad things happen.  I do know what causes them: SIN.  God has reasons for allowing them that my human reason cannot understand.  When I don't know why, I DO know that God DOES.  He is all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-powerful.  Nothing happens to me or anyone else without God knowing about it.

I can't understand why sometimes, but what I do understand is that God loves me more than I can imagine.  I know that I have a finite mind, that I can't see or understand the future.  I know that he's God, and I'm not, and I'm happy and content with that.

God has my life in his hands.  He has your life in his hands.  He does, in fact, have the whole world in his hands.  And considering how big, gentle, loving, and caring God is...I can't think of any place for my life to be.  No matter what happens.  And when this world ends for good, I know where I'll be...in God's arms.

Proud to Be an American

I really am proud to call America my home.  I know that this country has made a lot of mistakes in the 135 years since its birth.  For decades slavery was part of our way of life and business.  Our leaders have made decisions that have had serious negative consequences.  Some leaders haven't been honest with those they were called to serve, or made decisions that most people didn't want them to make.

But we as a country have so much to be proud of!  We abolished slavery and have worked to fight against it in other countries.  We have fought hard for our freedoms--and won.  We have had incredible presidents and other government leaders who have done so much good for this country and its people.  Citizens of our country have made discoveries and invented things that have benefited people all over the world.  We were founded on Christian principles and although that's not as easy to see anymore, we still have freedom of religion in the United States like few other countries do.

We have been so blessed as a country, despite doing things as a country that are in blatant opposition to God's Word.  He has continued to be gracious and faithful to our nation as a whole.

On this day, I celebrate the fact that I was born in America and have grown up blessed by so many freedoms.  I thank God for those men and women, including some friends of mine, who have sacrificed in order to protect those freedoms and protect the people of our country.  I thank God for the blessings he has showered upon our nation.

And, today, I am remembering past Independence Days...there are so many memories connected with this holiday for me.  :)  It would take another post to consider them all (and I might just do that later).  This day has much meaning for me, and I'm ready to make new memories!