Psalm 33:12 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.”
II Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
This year’s celebration of our Independence Day will undoubtedly be muted because of health concerns, equality concerns, and unrest concerns. The last several months have taken their toll on the spirit of our great country, and an aura of malaise has swept over our land. Maybe you are losing hope about the future of America, and maybe you are not feeling all that patriotic. I have to admit that sometimes I feel the same way. Then, God sends something my way that provides me the boost that I need to continue serving Him and serving our nation.
Once such boost came my way unexpectedly a few weeks ago. A teacher from my freshman year in high school just retired after a lifetime of service to our community in the public schools. I reached out to congratulate him on his retirement and to thank him for his service, and this is the response I received:
“Thank you very much. Did you know that during every (well, almost every) test I gave I would not just watch over those knuckleheads for cheating, but I’d pray for each kid. I’d go around the room, and pray for the eternal salvation for each student. That included you as a HS kid. I know you are a busy man now, so thank you for taking the time to write. Now, it’s onto a new challenge. Don’t know exactly what that will be until this pandemic panic passes. But, I’ll find something meaningful. Continued prayers for you and your family, and men.”
Wow! I was floored, humbled, touched, inspired, encouraged, convicted, and challenged all at once!
We may be told that America is a godless and broken society with no hope. As long as there are citizens like this teacher, that is not true! There is prayer in school! There are godly influences all around us! There are individuals who invest their lives in serving others! There are people in every corner of our society who care about the temporal and eternal well-being of everyone! There are those whose love for others is untainted by bias and discrimination!
There are still remarkable people in our land who love this great country and our amazing citizenry!
PLEASE PRAY FOR A RENEWAL OF PROPERLY PLACED PATRIOTISM IN OUR GREAT NATION. We may all be knuckleheads at times who fail to live up to God’s standards and the lofty vision of our founding principles. Yet, as long as we passionately serve, humbly pray, and genuinely repent, then the American experiment will endure and thrive even through the most challenging of times. Happy Birthday America!
