Independence Day

Psalm 4:6
Many, LORD, are asking, "Who will bring us prosperity?"
Let the light of your face shine on us.

Are we celebrating this Independence Day with cookouts and family gatherings? Watching or marching in parades on our city streets? Lolling about, gratefully relaxing on our day off from work? Hanging American flags from our porches? Leisurely stretched on blankets at the local park as dusk approaches, anticipating the gala fireworks display?


No matter how you commemorate the most important date in our country's history, I hope you will take time to pause and reflect upon these questions:

• What does freedom really mean to me?
• Are my "inalienable rights" endowed by my Creator God being honored in America in the 21st Century?
• Have I acknowledged the sacrifices made by my Founding Fathers to grant me these rights and freedoms?
• Do I pray for and honor the brave men and women in harm's way daily to protect me, my country, and my way of life?
• Is America still God's "shining city on the hill", or have we fallen from grace; how can I give new meaning to the phrase, "One nation, under God"?

In these difficult economic and political times, not just in our country but throughout the world, many, indeed, are asking, "Who will bring us prosperity?". Paradoxically, it is dependence upon God and His will for our lives that grants us the ultimate independence to realize the potential for greatness and success in our lives and the lives of others. I pray that the light of God's face shines upon all of us this Independence Day and in all the days to come.

God bless the U.S.A.!
http://www.google.com/ig?hl=en&source=iglk#m_1_%22God%20Bless%20the%20U.S.A.%22

Readings
Psalms 1, 2, 3 or 4, 7
1 Samuel 15:1-3, 7-23
Acts 9:19b-31
Luke 23:44-56a