HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!
I am SO proud to be an American! I am blessed to be living in this beautiful nation and feel so indescribably grateful to those men and women who "gave the last full measure of devotion" to keep this nation free.
In 1776, 56 men bravely signed their names to a document that would surely be their death sentence had their revolution failed. 56 brave men took a stand against the tyranny of their mother country and declared themselves a free and independent nation. Because of these 56 men history has never been the same. On a hot day in July these 56 men committed the highest act of treason so that generations after them would be able to enjoy the freedoms that they had been denied. I am undeniably grateful to these 56 "treasonous" men, for they have given the greatest gift, a free country.
Remember my friends that we are one nation under God. Together we stand, divided we fall. Our founding fathers recognized the hand of the Lord, or Providence, in what they did.
On September 7, 1774, as the British were attacking Boston, the First Continental Congress met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia. The Congress voted to open that meeting with a prayer. In a letter to his wife, Abigail, John Adams described that first prayer and the disagreements surrounding it.
He wrote, "We were so divided in religious sentiments, some Episcopalians, some Quakers, some Anabaptists, some Presbyterians, and some Congregationalists, that we could not join in the same act of worship."
However, Samuel Adams arose and said, that he was "no bigot, and could hear a Prayer from any gentleman of piety and virtue," Samuel Adams' notion was seconded, and passed and a local reverend read several prayers in the "established form" and read the 35th Psalm, which was the designated scripture for that day of the year.
"I never saw a greater effect upon an audience," John Adams recounted to his wife. "It seems as if heaven had ordained that Psalm to be read upon that morning. After this, the reverend, unexpectedly to everybody, struck out into an extemporary prayer, which filled the bosom of every man present."
"Be thou present O God of Wisdom," the prayer began. "Direct the counsel of this Honorable Assembly; enable them to settle all things on the best and surest foundations; that the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that Order, Harmony and Peace may be effectually restored, and the Truth and Justice, Religion and Piety prevail and flourish among the people."
It was, as John Adams remembered, "enough to melt a heart of stone."
Let us celebrate the birth of our nation with continued prayers, let us unite ourselves as the early patriots did and ask the Lord God to bless this land and to bless our efforts at bringing peace to the world.
Over the years the stars and stripes have been immortalized in subsequent battles for freedom. The flag appeared at the Treaty of Versailles when the First World War ended, on a rocky rise on the tiny island of Iwo Jima, sewn inside a POW's coat at the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War, and flying over the wreckage of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
We believe this land that we live in has been blessed, we are one nation under God. This is a blessed and choice land to all those who serve the Lord (Ether 2:10).
As the last verse of the "Star Spangled Banner" reminds us,
Blest with victory and peace,
may the heaven rescued land
praise the Power that hath made
and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must,
when our cause it is just,
and this be our motto:
"In God is our Trust!"
I love this country. I am grateful to those who willing put their lives on the line to protect freedoms that I too often take for granted.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
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