It’s a word filled with meaning in a world with too little of what it means. It’s a word that conjures images of eagles soaring, soldiers standing at attention, the stars and stripes blowing in the breeze. In America, ‘freedom’ is a word we claim to understand, actively acknowledge, and openly celebrate. And yet, the freedom we enjoy, and so easily take for granted, is not true freedom.
The
freedom we experience in the United States is awesome and grand and splendid
and humbling. It’s an honor and a privilege
and has forever depended on the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of men and
women. It springs from the undeniable
bravery of human beings we will never meet wielding weapons we will never see. And I am grateful. I am grateful we can choose our spouses and
our jobs and our homes and our lives. I’m
grateful we can say what we feel, vote for the leaders we deem worthy, decide
what is best for our families, worship in safety. I am grateful for the mother who leaves her
young children to fight for me on the other side of the world. I am grateful for the young man who leaves
his parents and his college and his easy opportunities to battle with a nation
who hates everything I love. I am grateful
for those who volunteer to labor in frightening, faraway lands so I may wake up
each morning to peace. I am grateful.
And
yet, this freedom . . . it is not true freedom.
True freedom doesn’t come from the power and might and resolve and courage
of a thousand armies of men willing to give up their lives in the name of
patriotism and protection. True freedom comes
only from the One who gave up His life in my name, and in yours.
Thank
you to those men and women, past and present, who provide me with the blessing
of freedom on earth today.
And
thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross so I could be free forever.
My chains are gone,
I've been set free,
My God, my Savior,
Has ransomed me,
And like a flood,
His mercy reigns,
Unending love,
Amazing grace.
Happy 4th of July!!!
