Wednesday, July 05, 2006

America Bless God!

This is what I heard last night...right before the awesome display of man's search for blowing things up...

I love fireworks...I always have. But I have never enjoyed them as much as I have since having my boys...I love the faces they make and the fact that they have to cover their ears when the finale comes, even though the decibels of the fireworks come no where NEAR that of their screaming at one another in the car...

It is at this point that I would have put a really cute and patriotic pic of the star and stripe clad family...that is if I had realized BEFORE we got to the festivities that the batteries were dead in my digital camera...sigh...

We had SO MUCH fun!!! We attended the Family Friendly Fourth put on by our local Christian radio station. Chris Rice and Avalon were there in concert and while I didn't get to see most of Chris Rice (I was in a LOOOOOONG line for funnel cakes only to find out my kids didn't like them, I know...they're wierd), Avalon was great!! They are my ALL TIME favorite Christian group...I have seen them at least once a year for the past 8 years...HONEST!!! I love them!

One of the ladies at W@H asked an interesting question yesterday. She asked what we loved most about America...it really took me a while to think of something. Yes, I love that we're free. Yes, I love that we can sing praises to God and carry our Bible with us out in the open if we want...BUT there is SO much that I HATE about what America has become that I really didn't know if I could answer that question.

I hate that thousands of babies are dying in our FREE land every day because it's a woman's choice. I hate that marriage is being compramised because it's considered unconstitutional to limit who can marry who...um...no...before the constitution there was something called a BIBLE! I hate that there are wars being fought and no end in sight. I hate that I was able to sit and enjoy fireworks with my family while there are men and women fighting to give us that opportunity and they missed out on the fun with THEIR families...I hate that we ask God to bless America after a tragedy brings our country to it's knees but they don't think to THANK God when things are going well.

Yesterday I saw what I love about America. I saw men, women, children, teenagers, every age, every color, every size and composition. All 15,000 people that were there were there for one purpose. We were there to celebrate the Independence of a country that was born under God's Hands. You know what I love about America?? I love what our country is based on. I love the idea of freedom. I love that when we give our hearts to Jesus, only then are we truly free. I love that we could meet out in the OPEN and sing praise songs together.

There were a few moments last night that I actually teared up a bit. I listened as the man next to me sang along to the music on the speakers as he rocked his napping baby. I listened as the teens behind us used some rather colorful language and thought, "heh thought this was supposed to be family friendly." Then I realized that we were 15 minutes outside of Orlando, they could have chosen from any of the umpteen hundred OTHER 4th festivities, maybe God called them to this one for a reason. I watched as the family in front of us had their teenage daughters with them who weren't as in to the concerts and whatnot but were way into their BRIO magazine. I listened as my own children sang the Z88.3 jingle EVERY time it came over the loudspeakers and for the 5 minutes AFTER...heh...

THIS is what freedom is about. As Christians our hearts are connected...we are a body...a family. How awesome was it that I could spend a holiday celebrating the freedom that my family has and that we want to share with others...

God bless America, but more importantly...America BLESS GOD!

2 comments:

Stephanie said...

Well said. :)

And Avalon rocketh!

Anonymous said...

why can't you ever be thankful that you have a really awesome sister...still no blog about that one...