"Turth, Justice, and the American Way!"

First From Julie's Keyboard:

Didn't we just celebrate a most wonderful time of the year with our family members? Special greetings to you as we close the calendar on yet another precious "Thanksgiving" Holiday season. Though as God's children, we know that we are indeed thankful every day of our lives, or should be.

Thinking on these blissful times, draws me to thought about the most loved of atmospheres called "Home." Most of us relish memories and moments of acts of love and kindness that we've witnessed or been a part of from our family settings. There's just something about these "God ordained havens" that when replaced with anything else, will never produce in the remotest of ways the same results.

It's been said that "As the family goes, so goes the church. Or so goes the nation." This is a powerful thought that bears much truth. God from the very beginning established home and family in the Garden of Eden. He set it up with rules and gave responsibilities to each member. He knew the strength and wisdom of such relationships. He also saw the fall and error of a beautiful thing traded for a selfish ambition.

In all this rejection of His ways, He so lovingly, time and again, sent ways to have a relationship with man and for man to relate well and have success with his family.
Of course, ultimately He sent His Son to remedy all error and grant as much love and life to folks as they can grasp. Isn't He awesome?

When we think about that beginning family and the practices they had in place, we realize that they spent their days walking and talking with God. They enjoyed His marvelous provision and their lives reflected this. Their whole existance was an act of worship unto Him. It really does sound like a eutopia in which Eden is often referred.

But, what about our homes today? Could I be dreaming to think that we could attain a level of walking and talking with our Creator in such a way to enjoy an "Eden" experience?

This week I spent some time studying some information on "Family Worship." It's seems many homes have lost something so dear. What if we could see that He is center focus of our homes? What if we could spend just a few minutes each day called aside to worship Him in a family effort? It wouldn't have to be some well formitted doctrinal thing. Just simply spend some well honored time in a visit with our Master as a family.

Though we may not see the bliss of the unmarred Eden until He returns for us again, we could enjoy the blessings of a well connected Christian family reaping ripe results in the labor of His kingdom. We have a place for wounds to heal and love to abound in spite of mistakes and shortcomings.

It's often said, "Home is where the heart is." What constitutes the heart of your home today? Will our Lord be found as the centermost value in our families. Will our practices in our homes bring honor to Him. Or, are there many things that need a quick change?

We have grave concerns over our nation and leadership roles within it. However, those positions have been filled with folks who were "cranked out" of the cradle of someone's home. We wonder what we could possibly do besides pray to make a difference in our nation. How about honoring God from our homes as a family?

As I share this quote with you today, I pray we reflect seriously on the condition of our homes. As parents we might think on the words of Neil Postman. "Children are living messages that we send to a time we will not see."

Hope you had an especially blessed Thanksgiving Holiday Season,

Julie

Scripture References:

Genesis chapters 1-4

Deut. 6:5-9 "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."

________________________________

"Truth, Justice, and the American Way!"

“The Rock on which the Pilgrims disembarked is still shown [and] has become an object of veneration in the United States. I have seen fragments carefully preserved in several American cities.

Does that not clearly prove that man's power and greatness resides entirely in his soul? A few poor souls trod for an instant on this rock, and it has become famous, it is prized by a great nation; fragments are venerated, and tiny pieces distributed far and wide. What has become of the doorsteps of a thousand palaces? Who cares for them?” - - - - Alexis de Tocqueville.

This passage, from Alexis de Tocqueville's classic book, Democracy in America, was written in 1835. That was more than two centuries after the Pilgrims first arrived at that cold and rocky spot on the Massachusetts coast in a dreary November, 1620. The place would become their Plymouth Bay Colony.

Tocqueville's words show us that even after so long a passage of time, Americans in the 1800s still cherished the stories of their country's beginnings. Now, near two hundred years after Tocqueville, the story of those early settlers I hope still move us.

Why did they come? They tell us plainly in the governing document they signed, the Mayflower Compact: "For the Glory of God and the Advancement of the Christian faith, and the honor of our King and Country." They wanted to worship the Lord in the way their consciences and their understanding of Holy Scripture led them, which included building a community in which they could daily live out their faith in Jesus Christ.

They called their dangerous effort "an errand into the wilderness." Sadly, many of them died in that first terrible year. Hunger and disease took their toll. But the Pilgrims are honored because they did not give up.

"Measured by the standards of men of their time, were the humble of the earth. Measured by later accomplishments, they were the mighty. In appearance weak and persecuted they came -- rejected, despised -- an insignificant band; in reality strong and independent, a mighty host of whom the world was not worthy, destined to free mankind." - - - - Calvin Coolidge

That is our American heritage, but what is our future? Is it abortion on demand? Legalized sodomy? Relative morality? Can our culture, the values and principles that have made us who we are be grafted to such ideals? We seem to cast aside such values, disregard such principles in favor of our economic one’s, as though money now rains supreme.

Leaders in the Republican party have now said we need to move away from abortion, gay rights, and social issues and move toward the economic issues to be electable. Are our politician’s saying they still believe these principles, but being elected is more important than taking a stand? What does that say about us as a people when our politicians make such statements?

I watched the movie “Superman Returns” this weekend, I refused to go see it at the box office in 2006 because I heard that they had removed the phase “American way” because it might be too offensive. Are we afraid to tell the world who and what we are?

It use to be said of Superman, "Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superman!

Yes, it's Superman - strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.

Superman - who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way."

Now in the new movie it was said of Superman, “Does he still fight for truth, justice and all that stuff” I don’t know about you, but the old description sounds a lot more powerful. He had purpose, his comic book character was defined by a way, it was called the American way. It’s what made a man of power a hero, he could have had all those powers and have been a comic book tyrant, a Hitler, or what ever you can imagine. But he was a comic book hero because he fought for the American way.

Our cemeteries are full of real hero’s who have died for this American way! These issues we are running from are time honored, the one’s we are embracing were once abhorred. What can we now say of the American way, has it‘s description lost purpose and definition as well?

In one scene in “Superman Returns” Lois Lane looks at Superman and says, “ I don’t need a savior, and neither does the world”. I can’t help but wonder if we as Americans have looked at our heritage of faith and said, “We don’t need you, and neither does the world”.

We must find our America way, our heritage again, when we do we will find our faith, our purpose, we will find what defines us and directs our destiny. Our Founders left us a path, it leads us to faith, it leads us to our hope.

In the words of John Adams we will find that:

“The Holy Ghost carries on the whole Christian system in this earth. Not a baptism, not a marriage, not a sacrament can be administered but by the Holy Ghost. . . .

There is no authority, civil or religious – there can be no legitimate government but what is administered by this Holy Ghost. There can be no salvation without it.

All without it is rebellion and perdition, or in more orthodox words damnation” - - - - Letter from John Adams to Benjamin Rush, from Quincy, Massachusetts, dated December 21, 1809.

May God bless each of you,
David
___________________
Oswald Chambers:

"We have slowly to form our walk and conversation on the line of the precepts of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit applies them to our circumstances. The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules and regulations: it is a statement of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is getting His way with us." - - - - Oswald Chambers. Written between the years 1911 & 1917. My Utmost for His Highest.