What is not to love about Independence Day? Parades! Hot dogs! A day at the lake with family and friends! Fireworks! Oh, the fireworks! The older I get the better the fireworks get! Thankfully the joy of some things never tire or grow old. And all of this wrapped in awe-inspiring red, white, and blue.
As a Believer blessed to live in the United States of America, I have the privilege and honor of commemorating and celebrating two unmerited days of FREEDOM each year.
Both days are undeserved and unearned. Both days were purchased at a price I could never earn enough to repay. Both resulted in the shedding of human blood. Both were made possible because someone loved me so much he willingly gave his life that I might live mine.
One day I celebrate with John Philip Sousa’s great march, “Stars and Stripes Forever”. The other I celebrate with Keith Getty’s moving hymn, “The Power of the Cross”
Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.
AMEN! Thank you!
Well put – thanks for sharing that thought. In Christ, we are “free indeed” (John 8:36). And thanks for reminding us of that great Getty hymn.