Thankful Thursday

I took these pictures of the kids on a deputation stop in Maine a few weeks ago.  I just came across them today, but they seemed so appropriate, considering the 13th anniversary of 9/11.

This was a war memorial and the sign says “The Price of Freedom Is Not Free”.  So true.  I am so thankful for the countless lives that have been given to allow me to grow up in a free country.  I am blessed by the freedom of America on a daily basis.  I am free to attend the church of my choice.  I am free to live where I believe the Lord has led me.  I am free to have as many children as I do.  I am free to homeschool my daughter.

It just happened that Elaine was wearing red, white, and blue in this picture, but it fits so well!

As part of our homeschool routine, we say the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag and to the Bible before we pray for school each morning.  I know Elaine doesn’t understand all of the words, but it was a good exercise for me to teach her the meaning of the words we say:

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.

We are studying the fire station as part of our current Kindergarten unit.  Today we talked about fire and what it needs to burn.  I sat down with the kids and we looked through my book of the World Trade Center.  We talked about the heroic firefighters on this day, fourteen years ago.  We talked about how selfless they were and how they put other people first.  And even though it was just my kids, I got choked up (I never speak in public without getting choked up, but this was at home!).  I felt proud to be an American, and a New Yorker, even if I am a transplant.  And I felt sad to think of where America is today compared to what she was many years ago.

I took these pictures on the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks

I think that living in New York City has made me a little more aware of my patriotism.  A little more proud to be an American.  A little more fierce to stand against our enemies (in the spiritual realm too).  It’s kind of in the back of our minds that there could be another attack on America, and that New York is a likely target.  But I don’t live in fear or dread.  We know that the Lord has called us to minister here in New York City.

One of the campaigns of the MTA and the Department of Homeland Security is “If you see something, say something.”  Ben uses it as a sermon illustration to show our need to share the Gospel.  “If you experience something, say something.”  As Americans we live in great freedom, blessing, and prosperity daily.  As Christians let’s share our Let’s share our spiritual freedom with the world through our testimony – both verbally and how we live our lives.

This is just a bunch of random thoughts…