First off, on this especially-important Fourth of July Weekend, let We The People metaphorically stand up in great unity with hand across the heart to uphold, protect, defend, and support to the very end, The Constitutional Republic of the United States of America and the flag which represents us: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands; one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

AMEN! And America can become again what it always was – A beautiful rendition of America the Beautiful from the choir of Hillsdale College, James A. Holleman, Music Director | Debra Wyse, Accompanist/Assistant Conductor…

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, you now may be metaphorically seated.

Musing this past week or so following the pretzel-shaped language and goings on at the increasingly unConstitutional decisions of the Black-Robed Executioners known somewhat sarcastically as the “Supreme Court Of The United States”, I got to making one of my “short lists” of do’s and don’ts, but this time in an order of what gave me the desire to become a legal citizen of the United States. But first, my prayer for today:

Dear Heavenly Father please bless the United States of America. Pour out your grace and mercy upon us once again, as we have drifted far far away from you and we seek your forgiveness for what is happening to our nation … We seem to disrespect all that is wonderful and great about this country while embracing all that is wrong and shameful. We call good bad and bad good.  We let wickedness have its way while good men and women just sit. Most churches are too busy playing pattycake and hiding in the closet while perversion is running rampant in the streets.  We dishonor the Great History and sacrifices of bold, brave, and brilliant men and women of our country, and change it to fit our agendas of perversion and hostility to all that is good and faithful about AMERICA. We shame the good people and parade the wicked and perverse. America is still great because we have the remnant of great people still arising to quell the damage.  Wake up We The People, wake up and awake from your slumber. This nation is still a shining city on a hill, a beacon of hope to all the lost souls around the world. Let the fire of revival burn brightly in this land once again heavenly Father, and we’ll be sure to give you all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ .. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen. Maranatha. In Him!!

Now on to the list…

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Patriotism isn't dead...

Patriotism isn’t dead…

A short list. In no particular order.

We told our children that any child could grow up to be President. And then we made it come true.

We had car shows, boat shows, beauty shows and dog shows.

We ran robots on the surface of Mars by remote control.

Our women came from all over the world in all shapes and sizes hues and scents.

We actually believed that all men are created equal and tried to make it come true.

Everybody liked our movies and loved our television shows.

We tried to educate everybody, whether they wanted it or not. Sometimes we succeeded.

Black and white kids together...

People of all colors and hues…

We did Levi’s.

We held the torch high and hundreds of millions came. No matter what the cost.

We saved Europe twice and liberated it once.

We believed so deeply and so abidingly in free speech that we protected and honored and, in some cases, even elected traitors.

We let you be as freaky as you wanted to be.

We paid you not to plant crops and not to work.

We died in the hundreds of thousands to end slavery here. And when that was done continued for a century and a half around the world.

We invented Jazz.

We wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg address.

We went to the moon to see how far we could hit a golf ball.

We lifted a telescope into orbit that could see to the edge of the universe.

When people snuck into the country against our laws, we made parking lots and food stands off to the side of the road so they wouldn’t get hurt, and we let them use our hospitals for free, and we made their children citizens.

We didn’t care what God you worshipped as long as we could worship ours.

Because You're Mine, I Walk The Line...

Because You’re Mine, I Walk The Line…

We let the People arm themselves at will. Just to make sure.

We gave everybody the vote.

We built Disneyworld. Just for fun.

We had a revolution so successful it was still going strong two and a half centuries later.

We had so many heroes, even at the end, that we felt free to hate them and burn them in effigy.

We electrified the guitar.

We invented a music so compelling that it rocked the world.

We had some middling novelists.

We had some interesting painters.

We had some pretty good poets.

We had better songwriters.

We ran our farms so well we fed the globe.

We made the automobile and the airplane.

We let you get rich. Really, really rich. And we didn’t care who you were or what you were or where you came from or who your parents were. We just cared about what you made or what you did.

Class vs Crass..

We had poor people who, even at their most wretched, were richer than any other poor people on the face of the planet.

We were the most noble nation the world had ever known.

We had so much freedom that many of us voted to just throw it all away.

Even towards the end, as we dissolved into the petty bickering and idle entertainments that come with having far too much leisure and money, many among us were still striving to make it higher, finer, brighter, better and more beautiful.

Even towards the end, the best of us declined to give up and pressed on.

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind; Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God ~  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. ~ I Corinthians 6:9-11; and 19-20

Cross of Blessing and Glory taken in Arizona soon after 9/11...

Cross of Blessing and Glory taken in Arizona soon after 9/11…

Face of Jesus by Richard Hook
Soli Deo Gloria!

H/T Gerard Vanderleun and his American Digest; together with personal archives…