The Cost of Freedom

We Americans are used to freedom. We will speak in a heartbeat about our “rights.” We cry out against injustice and we applaud those who stand up for the disenfranchised. We are aware of what the Constitution affords us and we expect to be given our day in court. All of these freedoms of course were not here waiting for us when our forefathers sailed the seas in a ship that’s name sounded like it belonged in the garden shop at Lowes. There was that taxation without representation thing that I recall reading about. There was a War of Independence that freed most, a Civil War that freed others and a Civil Rights movement that continued the process and we finally got around to letting women vote, it was indeed a process.

Wars have been fought to preserve freedom, lives have been lost to insure that each generation had the chance to pursue happiness and chase their dreams. The span of time reaches into four centuries. From independence to Vietnam, from WWI to Korea, from WWII to Iraq men and now women have died on battlefields so that people like me might write articles like this. Freedom of the press, freedom to vote, freedom to protest, freedom to worship they all were paid for with blood spilt on mostly foreign shores in far away places.

Two thousand years ago blood was spilt on an old rugged cross for another kind of freedom. Once again tyranny had overcome freedom, sin had conquered liberty and grace had to be victorious over death. Jesus paid our price, fought our battle, won the victory for us. My earliest memories recall singing about all of this. We would stand in that little white church and sing as loud as our southern voices could exclaim…victory in Jesus our Savior forever, He sought us and bought us with His redeeming blood. We would also sing God bless America land that I love, stand beside her and guide her…Some say that one should not mix faith and country, that we stand in danger of not being able to be prophetic, critical, or even clear minded. All I know is this freedom that was given to me by my forefathers enables me to practice the freedom given me by my Savior. One I worship; the other I am grateful for. One is unchanging and steadfast the other sometimes changes for the worse and has to be reminded by the people that the original idea had merit. I don’t worship the flag but I proudly salute it. And my prayer has never changed and my song remains constant…God Bless America the land that I love and God thank you for those who defended its freedom.