Here is one more article written by Pr Tim Throckmorton. He talks about a country that I'm learning to love!
Enjoy!!
Maybe it’s because of the events of this past Memorial Day weekend. And what a wonderful weekend it was, Memorial day remembrance in our morning worship service on Sunday, parades and flags flying everywhere on Monday. Heartfelt expressions of gratitude for those who willingly gave their lives for our freedom. Or perhaps it’s because of where I grew up, just up the road from where Roy Rogers was reared. My good friend Monte came from Columbus this week along with his two children for the annual Roy Rogers festival. Seems that Little Monte has become a true blue Roy Rogers fan! I’m talking cowboy hat, boots and a couple of six shooters! So Thursday evening this past week I find myself with my own son Joe in the old Columbia Theater in downtown Portsmouth watching an old Roy Rogers film, “in living color no less!” Here we were watching Roy solve a mystery while putting an old fashioned whipping on the bad guys. During a particular gun fight sequence I watched with delight as little Monte pulled out one of his six shooters and begin firing at the screen, “at the bad guys of course”. As we were leaving the show I told him what a good job of shoot in he had done. He gave me that satisfied look, as if to say “Thank ya partner! “Anyway as I left the theater reflecting on this wonderful week in the good old United States of America, I though of what blessings I was privileged to enjoy.
For example the freedom to dream. Little Monte was totally engulfed in the movie, good guys winning over bad guys. Roy and his wholesome brand of entertainment was transporting this precious young boy into a world of dreams that really can come true. Dreams of good clean living that produce a good life. Dreams of a truthful and moral lifestyle that he probably won’t see anywhere else. Dream on little Monte, dream on. There’s also freedom to celebrate…. We live in the greatest country in the world that many have paid the full measure of devotion for. We celebrate their love and devotion. The oldest living republic in the world is where I am thankful to live!
Maybe it’s because of the freedom I have as well. Growing up on Duck Run, playing in the creeks and hollers I was given the gift to dream of what I could become in life. Good neighbors, clean fun and an opportunity to begin my adult life married to the girl of my dreams, pursuing the career of my choice, raising my family in the fear and admonition of the Lord with no fear of threat or reprisal. Kind of what the founding fathers meant don’t you think? In the beginning they proclaimed, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” They then felt it necessary to end with these words…. “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” Sort of has a religious tone to it, don’t you think? Maybe that’s because those pledged their lives realized that God had brought them to this point in history and it be with God’s help alone that this country would be born and prosper! Maybe that’s why for well over two hundred years thousands felt it worthwhile to bleed and die for this great land that God has so graciously blessed. They still do!
The only concern I have at this juncture in our history is that we are inclined to forget the help we need from God. “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side. My great concern is to be on God's side.” Abraham Lincoln, when asked if he thought God was on our side. The founding fathers realized the truth found in Psalm 33:12 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” They knew the God who helps us dream. "And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice," Benjamin Franklin asked at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, "is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?" Franklin invoked the sparrow in service of his argument that the convention should open each day with a prayer. Which is still good advice! They, as we must realize that it is God that gives us real freedom. Not just in the physical realm, but the freedom from sin that we can know in our hearts. Listen to the Apostle Paul in his letter to the church at Rome.. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Then in verses 22-23 of chapter 6 he says… “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” A free country, because of those who sacrificed for it. For this we are grateful. The free gift of eternal life, because of a Savior who gave His life for you and for me. For this we are forever thankful. Are you free to dream and free to live? You can be, if you want to. As Roy would say…..Happy Trails!
Pastor Tim Throckmorton
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