Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor

"Today we celebrate the birthday of this great country. Most will not be tearing it down, but instead building it up. It is good. This country is good. We are good."

"We mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor." Wow. Every time I read those most powerful words, it gives me pause. This group of subjects to the crown, who desired to become citizens of their own country, were willing to risk it all. And then some. When pen hit paper to sign the Declaration of Independence, it became a record for all the British to see. There was no going back. Those signatures would be there so long as that piece of what they called paper in those days, survived.

Once that was signed, and then sent to the King of England, there was no going back. They had crossed the Rubicon. Their fates were sealed. If the upcoming war went poorly for the colonies, it would mean the death sentence for the signers. They would be hanged or shot by firing squad. Their property would likely be confiscated, and who knows what would happen to their families. The odds were stacked against them. But even with that, they still pledged their "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor."

How are we doing on that today? In America? How is that pledge going? Where we would give it all, just to make this a more perfect union? Much has changed in the almost 250 years since our forefathers signed that most famous document. We have changed. Rather than E pluribus unum, we have become instead, tribal. In many places (especially Washington, DC), hate has replaced love, greed has replaced service, and worldly fortunes have replaced Godly ideas. No, I am afraid to say we are a much different people today. Sadly to say, we are.

But - some of us may have changed, but the concept, the idea, of America has not. There are still enough patriots remaining who will protect this idea at all costs. As Bono has said, "America is no longer just a place, but an idea, which has been shared with the world." Bingo! Bono nailed it!

Today, our enemies are not so much on foreign shores, as they are embedded within our shores. Enemies such as socialism. Tribalism. Fascism. Racism. Greed. Idolatry. Idolatry? Yes, whenever we replace God with just about anything worldly, it is idolatry. Pure and simple.

We can turn back the clock should we decide to do so. The country which saved the world from two horrific world wars is still here. The beating heart of liberty, is still beating strong for many. Young men and woman are still willing to travel to foreign lands to fight and die for other's freedom. And yet within all that good, there is still the loud and growing chattering class, demanding that America confess it is an evil empire. Guilty of most things wrong in the world. This chattering class is not only disruptive to the desire of citizens and patriots to continue to form a more perfect union, they besmirch much of the goodness our Founders stitched into our fabric. 

Today we celebrate the birthday of this great country. Most will NOT be tearing it down, but instead building it up. It is good. This country is good. We are good. And God is good all the time. It is important that we remain a Godly nation. Our Founders strongly believed that. As should we.

Happy birthday America! And may God continue to bless this great country!