Born On The Fourth of July

I was born on July 4, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence is my Birth Certificate. The bloodlines of the world run in my veins because I offered freedom to the oppressed. I am many things and many people. I am the Nation.

I am 250 million living souls – and the ghost of millions who have lived and died for me.

I am Nathan Hale and Paul Revere. I stood at Lexington and fired the Shot Heard Around the World. I am Washington, Jefferson, and Patrick Henry. I am John Paul Jones, the Green Mountain Boys, and Davy Crockett. I am Lee, Grant, and Abe Lincoln. I am Union – I am Confederate.

I remember the Alamo and Pearl Harbor. When Freedom called, I answered and stayed until it was over, “Over There”. I left my heroic dead in Flander’s Field, on the rocks of Corregidor, on the bluffs of Normandy, on the bleak slopes of Korea, in the steaming jungles of Vietnam, and I brought them home from the Persian Gulf.

I am the Brooklyn Bridge, the wheat fields of Kansas, and the granite hills of Vermont. I am the coal fields of the Virginias and Pennsylvania, the fertile lands of the west, the Golden Gate, and the Grand Canyon. I am Independence Hall, the Monitor, and the Merrimac.

I am Big. I sprawl from the Atlantic to the Pacific…..My arms reach out to embrace Alaska and Hawaii………Three Million square miles throbbing with Industry. I am more than 3 million farms. I am forest, field, mountain, and desert. I am quiet villages in the country and teeming cities that never sleep.

You can look at Me and see Ben Franklin walking down the streets of Philadelphia with his broadleaf under his arm. You can see Betsy Ross with her needle. You can see the lights of Christmas and hear the strains of “Auld Lang Syne” as the calendar turns.

I am Babe Ruth and the World Series. I am thousands of schools and colleges and tens of thousands of churches where my people worship God as they think best. I am a ballot dropped in a box, the roar of a crowd in a stadium, and the voice of a choir in a cathedral. I am an editorial in a newspaper and a letter to a congressman.

I am Eli Whitney and Stephen Foster. I am Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Albert Einstein. I am Horace Greely, Will Rogers, and the Wright Brothers. I am George Washington Carver, Daniel Webster, and Jonas Salk. I am Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Walt Whitman, and Thomas Paine.

Yes………I am the Nation, and these are the things that I am. I was conceived in Freedom and, God-willing, in Freedom I will spend the rest of my days.

May I possess always the integrity, the courage, and the strength to keep myself unshackled, to remain a citadel of Freedom and a beacon of hope to the world.

I am the United States of America!

- Author Unknown -

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Let us never forget that this grand experiment in Freedom has been one of the greatest of God's blessings to mankind; may we never turn our back to Him or allow this land of Freedom He has given us to be taken away due to our indifference.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2001

Answers

Let's not forget also that almost all the free nations of the earth fought and died for their freedom. That they prevailed and continue to prevail in their endevours to remain free is truely a gift from God.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2001

A true story....

When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We confess that:

We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery,

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare,

We have killed our unborn and called it choice,

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable,

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem,

We have abused power and called it politics,

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition,

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression,

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.

Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent: to direct us to the center of Your will and to openly ask these things in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen!"

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest.

In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, "The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired. With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called "one nation under God."

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2001

C,

Although I have heard the prayer before I had not heard about the Paul Harvey response....Thanks for sharing.

In Christ,

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001