All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others

Look back

Why Memorial dAy? May 30, 2022.

Listen to this podcast here: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/5764dd56/look-back-reme...

Thank you.

Thank you God for freedom.

Thank you that the whole notion of freedom begins in You.

Memorial Day - a day set aside in the United States of America for the purpose of considering the costs . . . to remember the sacrifices made by men and women for almost 250 years.[took this pic a couple years ago at Boston Common]--->

Have you ever counted the costs? That royal battle at the end of the 18^th century, fought on our soil, the Revolutionary War is what captured our independence. 6800. That’s how many Americans died in combat, but wait-- 6,100 were wounded and upwards of 20,000 were taken prisoner. Historians believe that at least an additional 17,000 deaths were the result of disease, including about 8,000–12,000 who died while prisoners of war.¹

Perhaps statistics are numbing to you, but if your husband or son was numbered thus, they assuredly would not be. We live in a day that seems to want to revise our history and that is offensive because of how hard won our independence was. I know that not every patriot was morally pure, not every skirmish righteous--slavery was criminal, and yet ours has been the best experiment in freedom ever.

I am so thankful to be an American, thankful for the freedoms our country has enjoyed for all of these years up until today. Because my son, Danny, lives in Boston, I have been afforded the opportunity to visit again and again the sites where brutal battles were won for our freedom. I never forget.

Walking past the grave of Samuel Adams on Tremont Street in downtown Boston, reminds me he was one of the five who drafted these words:

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,

--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends,

it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,

and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles

and organizing its powers in such form,

as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness…²

Makes my heart swell with gratitude.

I make a choice to remember the freedom we enjoy was not free for all. As a matter of fact, many paid the ultimate price - with their lives. I am thankful for my young friends, Ryan and Albert, who valiantly serve today - and their parents who wonder what tomorrow will hold.

Friend, please do not buy the lies of revisionist history. Ours is a courageous past ~ ours is a benevolent legacy of a country that has come to the aid of more repressed countries and disadvantaged people groups than any other in the history of the world ... right down to today. Call me sentimental because I know I am, but I remember the first time I viewed the Statue of Liberty from New York Harbor waters. Tears ran down my face as I thought of how many people had streamed into America in search of freedom.

This plaque at her feet captures it well:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

with conquering limbs astride from land to land;

here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

with silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!³

Thank God for America’s past, and stand for truth and freedom on her shores now.

One more thing: the freedom we enjoy in Jesus Christ was not free either. By choice, in order that we might be made right with God and enjoy him forever, Jesus paid the ultimate price. No, the freedom we enjoy in Christ wasn’t free either - it cost Jesus everything.

Thank God for freedom because no matter where you are in this great wide world, in Jesus Christ, you are free, if you choose to follow him. Jesus himself said, Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.4 Then Paul so eloquently explained, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”5. Do you want to know more about that - the truth and freedom thing in Jesus, what it is to walk with him? Hit reply and I will get back to you!

Friends, Happy Memorial Day - I celebrate your Freedom! Thank you to the millions who have served to keep our country free . . . I am grateful for you.

Watch this fantastic clip . . . God bless our military.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjZ_IlP9c5A.

And because I love this so - here's another--a little more God and country:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs0fxy8rHo8 Absolutely beautiful!

With love,

Christine

PastorWoman.net

^{1 -}^{https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/american-revolution-faqs}

^{2 - the beautiful Declaration of Independence -}^{https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript}

^{3 - “New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus,}^{https://www.howtallisthestatueofliberty.org/what-is-the-quote-on-the-statue-of-liberty/}

^{4 - John 8.32}

^{5 - Romans 8.1-2}