— What’s your favorite 4th of July memory?
— For what are you most thankful as an American?
— What are you praying for our country today?
(Written for the majority American readership; others please feel free to chime in; heaven knows we need your prayers–KSH)
My last happy 4th was in 2006. I don’t enjoy holidays anymore.
My friend and I travelled for the summer across the USA in 1989, and were in San Francisco under the Golden Gate Bridge for the fireworks display on the fourth. Amazing. Some stranger handed me a “Chick” tract called “This Was Your Life” (http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0001/0001_01.asp) before the sun went down, and I remember reading it and freaking right out. I was not a Christian then, but would be a year later. Now I’m and Anglican priest. Go figure.
I am praying that someday rational political discourse based on a sense that the American experiment was above all an experiment in people working together for the common good. I realize that seems like a radical idea today, but there was a time in our country when we had some understanding of that.
I am most grateful for the courage and sacrifice by so many Americans to make this experiment in government and our liberty possible. May God have mercy on those who have lost their way and continue to move hearts and minds to holy and noble purposes. To God is the glory!
I really have two memories which are more described as strong rather than best. One is the 4th I spent in 1972 when I was based in Thailand. Even had fireworks across the river, though that was actually a B-52 strike. The second is from 1997. We had a quiet celebration, capped by the local fireworks display. Within 6 months, both my parents were gone, peacefully.
My gratitude is for the freedoms and opportunities we have, secured by the blood and effort of those who have come before. My prayers are that we will have the strength of will and courage not to lose those blessings by forgetting to “…defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Happy Fourth of July. This morning our intercessions included prayers for the United States and a particular one for for wisdom for the American Church and I wished a happy 4th of July to some of our American congregants, one of whom was a bit surprised to find what day it was.
I think what the US has achieved in the 221 years since its founding has been and remains pretty remarkable. We give thanks for those who came to help us in two world wars often at great personal cost and sacrifice and are grateful for the continuing friendship we share.
My wife and I always kiss when we watch fireworks together (I’m not talking an extended kiss or kissing session, just a nice married kiss) and I always think of her when I see fireworks. We’ve been married nearly 19 years now and our youngest is 7 months old, so maybe there’s something to that. Anyway, true love…she is my country.
Thank you Lord for the freedom that you gave us. Thank you for preserving my ancestor Thaddeus through 8 long years of war and blessing him with children and grand children. Thank you for keeping him in the snow and through the hunger, in battles and through sickness. Thank you for his brothers that fought beside him for our freedom. We remember that one brother died in a British prisoner of war camp, suffering cruelly at their hands in the Sugar House. Thank you for their sacrifices that gave us a free and independent nation.
Thank you Lord Jesus that you were the ultimate sacrifice for freedom…the once and for all time sacrifice that sets all men free that accept it and that will liberate the earth itself and all creation. You are our freedom. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirt, now and forever. Amen.
Too many good memories to list here which came from an upbringing in a good family led by a strong father who fought for this country in WWII and never forget what he fought for.
I pray that enough Americans, through the power of Almighty God, will awaken themselves to what is happening around us. To see that trading liberty and freedom for perceptions of comfort and safety is no trade at all, but a capitulation to tyranny. That they will see that they and their forefathers were chosen to be a part of God’s great providential plan for mankind, to create a place in this world where mankind could taste and experience the kind of freedom and love of God that we will have in His time and place. I pray that Americans will realize again that what has made America great, and a beacon to those seeking freedom and liberty, is not the size nor the quality of our Government, but rather the energy, ingenuity, and the zeal of our people to be the best that they can be through the freedom to pursue the gifts which God granted to them.