It is because of United States flags by the thousands presented this way that today we celebrate 234 years of freedom, the birth of a nation. We must never forget, or pretend it isn’t true that freedom from tyranny comes at an awful cost. Both my mother and my father lost a brother on the foreign battlefield. My uncle Warren Fox, my mother’s youngest brother and my uncle L.G. Ogle, next to the youngest of my fathers six brothers were killed by sniper fire. So, I know something of the price of freedom. Many brave men and women, patriots all, have followed in the steps of Patrick Henry who made the famous declaration “Give me liberty of give me death!”.

Revisionist historians have sanitized our national history so that no longer are our children taught that our nation was founded on the Word of God and the belief that liberty is a gift from the Creator God of the Bible. Those who deny this fact are either ignorant or dishonest. Every one of those heroes of our founding acted at the threat of death, and many of them paid in blood. This morning in the Sunday school hour our elder, Phil (Duckcommander) Robertson, gave a stirring presentation. He read the words of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Jay, Henry, and others. No reasonable person can hear those words and not be convinced that our national history was shaped by people of great faith in God and love for their fellow men.

234 years of freedom but it is slipping away. Bit by bit our national greed, our perversion, and our rejection of God and His will for the affairs of men is resulting in people being placed in positions of power and influence who are godless deviates. The U.S. Congress, the judiciary, and the executive branch are such that God-fearing people in those bodies are the exception and not the rule.

Our national morality has lost its anchor and so we by government sanction kill thousands of unborn children and justify it by citing the convenience of the would be mother. Our government’s official position is that sexual perversion is “normal” and that the perverted deserve special protection. Young school children in some districts are being indoctrinated at early ages in immorality and sexual impurity.

History teaches us that no nation who forsakes the God of the Bible will stand for long. Unless there is a revival of religion and morality this great nation will be only a history lesson. It is a sad state of affairs. We still have many good people. Our generosity has touched the lives of tens of millions around planet earth and most notable is the care we have given to previous enemies. It was from our shores that the gospel of Jesus Christ went all around the modern world. From every tribe and nation on earth people of good will have come to the United States for a shot at freedom and the right to reach their full potential. Even many of our most outspoken critics have sent their children to the U.S. for the best education on earth.

I am hopeful that the tide is turning. There is a ground swell of patriotism rising and a full complement of fresh faces in politics who appreciate our history and want to repeat it. Perhaps in two more national election cycles we will again start to see a shift toward sanity, physical responsibility, and national pride. God has been very patient, he is long-suffering. How long will he wait? Only he knows.

Oh God, please grant us mercy, don’t give us what we deserve. Please put men and women in office who are moral, fearless, and willing to pay the price of doing what is right and good in the midst of depravity and selfishness.

So, on this 4th of July, my hope is that God will bless America. Will he stay his justice? Will we as a nation turn from our wicked ways and do right? May God have mercy on the United States of America is my hope and prayer.

I am an American. I am proud of my country and honor those faithful and fearless men and women who at great personal sacrifice have given us the greatest country in the history of man. Instead of closing this post with the familiar “God bless America” I instead ask “Will America bless God?”.

Royce

It’s a 1945 model, from North Carolina, and like me, still running strong!

June the 27th of 1945 my daddy was in the tobacco field when my mother started into labor. He threw down his hoe and as quickly as possible made the 25 mile drive to Spruce Pine to the doctor’s office. He was the closest who could properly deliver a baby and even had 8 beds in the back room of his office for expectant moms and those who were new moms. I entered the world at 11:oo a.m. that day. My father met me the next day. He dropped my mom off and went right back to the tobacco patch to get his work done.

If I can live my life as humble as my beginnings I’ll be OK. I was born to mountain people in one of the poorest parts of the country but my people were some of the greatest people who ever lived. They were honest through and through, worked very hard, and had faith in God. At least some of that rubbed of on me and now 65 years later I can say that I wouldn’t change much if I could.

My life has given me a generous helping of hard times, disappointments, rejection of some of those I loved most, and as is true in every long life, I’ve been to far to many funerals. The most significant was the one for my Jeanine in 1997. And, I’m happy to report, I have been blessed by God and treated very well by most of the people I have ever known.

I have arrived at age 65 in excellent health for a guy my age. Even with low maintainance and very high mileage, with the exception of  some cosmetic flaws and some joints that are reminders of too much fun in my youth, I am running straight up and into the wind.

I have not blogged much in the past couple of weeks. I have had grandsons here, my daughter in the hospital (a wonderfully successful surgery behind her now, thank God!) and other responsibilities that have taken me away from the keyboard.

Writing continues to be a blessing to me personally and so I’ll continue to blog some, write some letters to old friends and a few who need a friend, and do what I can to point people to Jesus.

If I could hit the rewind button on the reel of my life….. I would surrender more fully to God, strive to become more holy, and better represent Christ to a watching world. Had I done that well the other parts of my history that I’m not proud of would likely not be there.

God is faithful! Christ has rescued me from myself and my moral failures and has given me life that doesn’t flinch at the undertaker. Christ is my life, my blessed hope, my assurance, my peace, my joy, and my constant and consistent advocate in heaven. I am safe in Him, saved.

Some day if the Lord doesn’t return first, I’ll make my last ride in a Cadillac or a Lincoln but I’ll be horizontal. I don’t look forward to that day but neither do I fear it even a tiny bit. So, I look forward to many great years ahead with joy and blessing watching my grandchildren grow up, enjoying the beauty of God’s creation, catching lots of fish, and loving the people God puts in my pathway.

So, like a good old pick up that stands the test of time, I’m not what I once was but I’m ready for the next trip.

May God’s best be experienced in your life for Jesus sake.

Royce