Happy Birthday America

Birthdays are so much fun. They are a celebration of life.

Birthdays seem to be more enjoyable for children and for adults that are young at heart. For most birthday celebrations, there's laughter and

ice cream and cake. There are balloons and streamers and gifts and games.

In addition to all the celebrations, birthdays are a good time for reflection. Since America is 238 years old today, this is a good time to look

at the past and learn lessons from our mistakes. We can evaluate our present and set goals for the future.

A pessimist would look at our broken homes, our breakdown of morals and our abuse of substances to conclude that our nation is sick.

An optimist would look at the blood of the Civil War, the lawlessness of the old west and the valueless lifestyles of the roaring 20's to

conclude that we have come a long way and are headed in the right direction.

A realist would acknowledge the social ills of our society and work toward solving the short term and long range problems.

A Christian would acknowledge that with God's help, there is not one single social problem that cannot be corrected.

Sociologists have written volumes. Our government has spent billions of dollars trying to solve our ills. Although the problems are complex, the

answer is relatively simple. We must love God with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. If every American incorporated these two

rules: Love God; Love our neighbors, the remainder of America's social problems would be minute.

Compared to other nations, our history is relatively short. Thankfully though, God has continuously blessed our nation since its inception.

America has consistently been the world leader in manufacturing, inventions, medicine and science. Our space program has been second to none.

God has blessed America with an abundance of natural resources and natural beauty.

On July 4th Americans, young and old, will celebrate our nations 238th birthday. There'll be ball games and picnics, watermelons, barb b que and

fireworks. There'll be American flags waving and bands playing tunes by John Phillip Sousa. Citizens across this land will be singing "America

The Beautiful," "God Bless America," and "The Star Spangled Banner."

During our celebration and festivities, we need to pause and thank God for blessings. In spite of the earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and oil

spills, we are still one of the greatest nations on the face of the earth. We have received many blessings and we need to be thankful every

day.

As we enter our 239th year, we are given another opportunity to love God and love our neighbor. While we share this great love with others, may

God bless this great land with freedom and truth and justice.

May God Bless You! May God Bless Me! May God Bless America!