My 4th of July Entry

Yes, I know it's the 8th of July. Your point is...?

Anyway, the 4th of July is sort of a big deal in our family. On my husband's side we always have a big family get-together (thanks, Mom and Dad!), one of the two or three times a year we can count on seeing uncles, cousins, etc. Then we go out and park in the Shooters parking lot and watch the fireworks. (Does anyone remember a few years ago when someone messed up and all the fireworks exploded on the ground at once about 30 seconds into the display? Good times...) This was an especially meaningful Independence Day at the Teels', because it was my sister-in-law Gaby's first July 4th as an American citizen. That's just so fantastic, congratulations and welcome to the greatest country on earth, Gaby!

Then of course, on my side, there's the parade, where the VFWs always have floats and color guards. This year our VFW got 1st place for the color guard and 2nd place for the float! Yay! Way to go Dad, Dana, and the whole VFW crew!

With all that going on for the holiday, in the back of my mind was a desire to write something here about our country, about Independence Day, patriotism, duty, honor, sacrifice, service, work...all those ideas that come up when we talk about the uniqueness and greatness of this nation.

Problem is, every time I asked myself, "What is America to me?" I started singing this Frank Sintra song and couldn't get it out of my head, so thinking was out of the question. You can find the words to the song here. It's a great song, and says a lot about this country.

But there are a few things I do want to say. I am a pastor, I have advanced degrees in religion, I teach philosophy, various Bible courses, and World Religions. The practice of religion--especially Christianity--is being curtailed and threatened every single place in the world. I'm not going to go into those details right now, but every Sunday I am very aware as I step into my pulpit that in the USA I can say what I am called to say and I will not be arrested.

Do you know how amazing that is? Do you know that our closest neighbors, Mexico and Canada, do not have those same freedoms? Nor do Britain, France, any other country in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, or Australia. They can say some things, but their governments are very closely involved in what can and can't happen in churches, and the government decides what religious people are and are not allowed to say. And Christians are jailed daily just for believing.

But not here. Not yet. There have been a few infringements, and we should be paying sharp attention--we have to be vigilant if we want to be free--but so far we are not putting Christians in jail simply for practicing their faith.

That alone would be enough to make this the greatest country on earth.

But there are a lot of other great things about this country. I don't care what other nations say about our high-handedness or arrogance or hawkishness--they know full well they'd be in a lot of trouble without us. When they complain about us like that, it makes me want to say, "Fine, we'll just take our billions of dollars in aid and go home." This country has always known it is blessed and prosperous, and we have always done far more than our fair share to help others. I am so proud to be a citizen of this great nation.

So remember--freedom isn't free. Some people will pay for it up front, with one big check written in their own blood, with life-long payments of their own peace spent to purchase ours. The rest of us have to pay for it day by day--being good citizens, living in our towns and cities with pride and compassion, taking our place through letters, phone calls, emails and votes in government of the people, by the people and for the people. And don't just criticize our leaders; pray for them, too.

It's so easy to let our freedom slip away law by law, program by program, tax by tax. Don't let it happen.

God bless the USA!

Kathy