4th of July

I know Camille is normally the one who updates the blog but after watching the fireworks in Pocatello tonight I really felt it necessary to share the following thought: During the last bit of the fireworks, my mind kept going over the words of the Star Spangled Banner. Not the first verse that everybody knows but the last verse (there are 3 of them are in the hymn book but there are 5 in all). Here are the words to the last verse:

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause, it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

I can’t help but think about my “loved home” and the constant war and desolation that rages against it. The only problem is that much of the war we face comes from inside our nation. We are constantly being harassed for our moral beliefs. We are told that we are bigots for standing up against the perversion that knocks at our doors. But instead of turning to God as the anthem says, many citizens turn their backs against God.

We are definitely in a time of uncertainty: War rages all around the globe, prices are skyrocketing, and there is a feeling of cynicism growing in the hearts of many Americans. If we truly want to be “blest with victory and peace,” we need to “Praise the Power that has made and preserved us as a nation.” We need to trust in God and conquer the evil of the world because “our cause, it is just.”