The gift of God

I am not very adept with a computer. This blog site is still a mystery to me in many ways.

But, I have an ability through it to speak freely on any subject I choose.

We have an awful lot to be thankful for in this nation of ours. Freedom to go where we want, when we want, say - pretty much - what we want, worship as we want, vote as we want - generally, just do as we want. What a lot to be thankful for.

Yet, to a large degree, many of us are so totally unhappy about so much in life.

We have choices - where many others in this world have few, or even none.

How we choose to live in this country, says a lot about who we are, and how we tend to exercise the choices we have.

I'm a pretty expressive guy...."No, not you, Big"...my children would say.

My life is centered about three things: my faith, my family and my work.

All other things revolve about these things. My efforts are put forth totally into these.

My ability to function in each, is through the basic freedoms I have in living in this nation - which is called my home.

We take a lot for granted in this country - to a great degree, we have forgotten where we came from and how we got here.

History is a great part of my family's life.

In my home is a writing desk - with some controversy attached to it - which my mother said came from Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason. He was the early American patriot who authored the "Declaration of Rights of Virginia", which later was incorporated by Thomas Jefferson as the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. Whether George Mason actually wrote the Declaration of Rights on the desk is unknown, but it was used in his home, and was pictured in the mural that once was in the hotel in Alexandria, Virginia bearing George Mason's name.

My point in all of this is that we are proud of our history in my family.

History is important stuff in this world. It tell us who we are, where we came from, what our roots were, and shows us the mistakes of others past - and if we pay attention to it, how to avoid repeating those mistakes.

One of the better lessons we learn is from the Bible. It is from this wonderful book that so much can be learned. God speaks to us here. Yet, today, so many pay so little attention, some even try and say the words are "archiac".

Our country today because of its failures to follow God's Word, is beginning to fall away from its history. We have, in a large measure, forgotten where we came from, and how we got here.

Freedom didn't happen. It is a gift from God. And, a great many people have paid the supreme price to keep it.

Today, we have many who do not want prayer in public places, God's name mentioned in our public utterances of the Pledge of Allegiance, or any acknowledgement of God in any way.

Some candidates for the highest office even reflect this.

This is all too sad.

The seeds of destruction are sowed by a faithless people. And the reaping of the harvest of despair, will come to those who stand , or walk, silently by.

I read today a quotation from Thomas Jefferson, which puts it very clearly:

"God who gave us life -
gave us liberty.
Can the liberties
of a nation be secure,
When we have removed a conviction
That these liberties
Are the Gift of God?"

What has been given to a people, can be taken away.

History proves it.