God Bless the USA

Today was a bittersweet time for us as we watched what may be our last "Thunder on the Mountain" here in Birmingham. It is a family tradition for the last 8 years that we have gone to Red Mountain, where the Vulcan statue resides, to watch the fireworks. This year we are blessed enough to be staying in Homewood which is a 4 block walk to the park where we can watch the fireworks. We packed up the kids, the stroller, and took Nana and Papaw with us to the neighborhood park by the church where we are staying.

It was so nice to watch the fire works and listen to the music dedicated to the servicemen, the country and Birmingham. We really thought about all the freedom we have come to expect here in America. Many people think we are so crazy to leave that freedom behind to go somewhere that they do not have those same freedoms that we take for granted here. All I know is that my freedom goes with me everywhere I go. This freedom was bought at a great price, but it was not because a soldier fought on foreign soil, or that some one had to leave their loved ones behind to fight a battle in defense of their land. This freedom was bought through the shed blood of my Savior, Jesus. It does not matter what land I am in, free or otherwise. The freedom I have in Christ is one that I will have for all eternity and as Lee Greenwood says, "and they can't take that away!"

It is this that compels us to go and tell others of the freedom that they too can have in Christ. A freedom that can only come through the author of Liberty:

Our fathers' God to Thee,

Author of Liberty,

To thee we sing,

Long may our land be bright

With Freedom's holy light,

Protect us by thy might

Great God, our King.

Samuel F. Smith (America...My Country 'Tis of Thee)