If you are like me, you’re probably saying “please Lord make me better them him”. Wait a minute let’s not make this personal. I was thinking more on the lines of being like me in that you wonder a lot. You know thinking and considering the why’s and why nots of life and especially others. For me, this happens almost every time I sit down to read God’s Word. My mind and thoughts start to wonder about Him and how He considers me. I mean, I know I don’t meet His standards and then I read something like Psalm 136 and the Psalmist repeats the phrase “His faithful love endures forever” as God and how He works in our lives acts out toward us.
As you probably know, we have just returned from a trip celebrating our 50th Anniversary. OK, I get you are tired of me rambling about this as I have done for the past month, but I only mention it because it is 50 years. When you get my age, Elaine is so much younger than I am, that is a long time. If I think about it, that Elaine has put up with me that long is truly a big deal. Thank you, darling, I love you.
While we were traveling we saw friends and visited really wonderful places. Yet, it was the people we met along the way that were so unique and wonderful. As we traveled each day we met people at different places. Not only where we were but people at different places in their lives. They were all so kind and caring. We would sit and talk waiting for Old Faithful to erupt at Yellowstone. Meet a family from California and talk about their travels. They had been to Key West when their son was stationed there with the Marines (Semper Fi). They knew from experience, by the way, there are no beaches in The Keys. Well, a couple of short spots that are a “beach” but not a lot of room. Oh, you didn’t know that, sorry to have burst your bubble.
The couple from Indiana who he and I talked about having an RV. His struggles with the new one he bought or as he said about “it has spent more time in the shop than in my yard”. He told me that on the first trip they took in it the awning went out as it should. Yet, when it was time to retract it did not. If you have an RV and the awning won’t retract you cannot go anywhere. The movie “RV” with Robin Williams comes to mind as he rips it off as he begins to drive without retracting it. He told me the dealer had to send a tech to where they were to fix it and that the motor had been installed backward which is why it wouldn’t retract. Amazingly when properly installed it worked perfectly. I was sorry to hear that and it makes the couple of things we have to get fixed from our trip seem so insignificant.
Just in these two accounts, you can see that we met great people. Our takeaway from our trip was that in the big scheme of things we live in an awesome country. It also was a takeaway if there are so many good and patriotic people out there how did we ever get to the place we are in today?
Yesterday, I was out in the yard and one of our close neighbors came by and we talked. He asked about our trip and we talked and I mentioned how we were so awed that there are so many wonderful people out there. As we talked and pontificated our thoughts and opinions, he made an observation. It was that there are others though that are not wonderful. In fact, they are downright mean and don’t want anybody to have more than another. I thought about it and I guess you could say they are happiest when chaos exists. What a terrible way to live.
My response to that of course was that we need to be involved by acting and doing the right things. You see this was all part of what had and is going through my mind regularly. There are people who don’t want you and me to enjoy the freedoms and liberties we have as citizens and even as Christians. Both of these are under attack and what used to be a covert battle has now become overt and visible clearly to anyone who is willing to honestly look.
I have and I hope I always do look for the best in people. My desire is to not become so tainted that I don’t trust or engage with others. Our trip gave me hope for our country. As my neighbor said as we talked, it is those fringe areas and people who are vocal and active promoting an agenda I know I cannot support. So I told him that we need to push back and I mean that we have to stand for what is right, good and Godly in the face of the defiance we might experience. This is a battle for good over evil. For freedom over chains.
I am a Christian and I am an American. He is my God and by His Grace, I am a citizen of this nation. We exist as a nation because God has and I pray will continue to bless these United States. If I do my part first as a Christian, then I can also do my part as a citizen.
So I am wondering today how many more there are out there who have the same thoughts? I have an idea it is what may now be a silent majority but are awakening to the reality that there are those who would destroy who we are as a nation. There is no other nation in the world where people are coming to but the USA. If it is so terrible a place, then why do they risk everything to get here? The answer is because of freedom and the most important freedom is of religion. In all that went on in the forming of this nation, it was religious freedom which was at the center of the fight.
I was reading again the Declaration of Independence and this important portion thereof-
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
I am reminded that in Romans 12:18 NLT Paul said-
Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
As I was preaching on July 4th, I said that the only hope for the world and this nation is Jesus. I know that there are many who have said this before and will in the future. It is true and the only way that people will know is if we as Christians tell them about Him. To carry that thought further, the only hope for our nation is Jesus. The same thing is true in that we need to tell them. This is not so that our nation will be a better place, yet it will be, but because He is what people need.
So in following this through it is our responsibility as Christians to do what God has already told us to do. In Acts 1:8 NKJV Jesus describes it perfectly-
“...you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
You know that all explains what we are to be doing as His people and the effect it will have on our nation. As you can see, I wonder a lot but when I do and the Holy Spirit guides me, then I get to where God wants me to be. To God be the glory, great things He has done.
A thought to ponder,
Elbert Nasworthy