Tag: CallOnTheLord

Boy, yesterday we had a real “frog strangler” of a rain! The heavens opened and sheets of water came pouring down. The thunder rumbled and the lightning flashed. It was a real natural fireworks show.

And Dave and I watched it through the windows of our RV. We were dry and comfortable.

But how different it must have been for those early patriots who fought for our independence. They were out in the weather with no shelter to speak of, not like we know today. Musket balls were flying, and cannons were spewing their balls of lead through the air.

Those who have served in other wars have been bombarded, the weapons have improved but the conditions have been just as horrendous. Fighting for our freedom!

Francis Scott Key poetically penned the words to our national anthem while watching the battle at Fort McHenry from a distance. It was 1814 and we were once again engaged in a battle with the British. He had heard the shelling all through the night, the battle was raging and he watched hopefully as the dawn came – was the flag still flying. The hope in his heart flowed through his pen to paper and these are the words he recorded.

I hope you read them as a statement of resolve and not just a song that is sung at sporting events or other occasions.

“Oh, say can you see,
By the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars,
Thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched
Were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets red glare,
The bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there.
O, say, does that
Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free
And the home of the brave?”

Yes, it still waves! Sometimes it is lowered to half-staff in mourning, sometimes it has been flown upside down signaling distress but still it waves and I pray that it waves proudly over this land.

“ and if my people who are called by my name become humble and pray, and look for me, and turn away from their evil ways, then I will hear them from heaven. I will forgive their sin and heal their land.” II Chronicles 7:14 ERV

Today isn’t about potato salad, watermelon, fireworks and bar-b-ques. Today, may we all bow our heads and pray for our nation and its leaders. May we pray for our citizens to open their hearts to their neighbors in love and compassion. May we pray for a healing to cover our land.

God bless America!