America's Promise: Freedom

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

When Emma Lazarus penned these words, she pointed to the real hunger that America itself longed to fill in the hearts of those who would call her home: Freedom.

Wealth, glory and power are not her legacy. Even when America was the land of nobodies, before she attained a global footing, she was storied for her singular aspiration: Freedom.

Millions pressed her borders, not because America promised them a life free of failure, hardship or suffering. They came in answer to her solitary promise: Freedom.

They came because America said,

“We hold these truths to be self evident:
that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights;
that among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”

If America forgets this, if her citizens trade this legacy for a pot of porridge, then the journey will have been in vain.

I have received few gifts in my life that are greater in their significance and value than the right to reside within the United States of America.

I offer this post in the hope that America will never forget
who she is, and what she has meant to the rest of the world.

Where God is...

Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassion
and God of all encouragement,
who encourages us in our every affliction,
so that we may be able to encourage
those who are in any affliction
with the encouragement
with which we ourselves
are encouraged by God.
~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Ever wonder where God is
when you suffer?
He is wherever you are.
His name is Encouragement.

Wisdom's Pricetag

Remember your Creator
while you are young.
~ Ecclesiastes 12:1

Too many have spent their lives
to acquire the wisdom
that the sage offers for free.

Whence cometh unhappiness?

When I became a man,
I put away childish things.
~ 1 Corinthians 13:11

Our refusal
to embrace
adulthood
is the source
of much
unhappiness.

Facebook and the significance of words

Let your words be
for the improvement of others...
and do good to your listeners.
~ Ephesians 4:29-30

Yes, words matter,
even in a Facebook generation!

What we do not know!

Where were you
when I laid
the earth's foundations.
~ Job 38:4

We would do well
to appreciate
the limits
of human knowledge.

The Adorer's Treachery

But now you must be holy
in everything you do,
just as God who chose you
is holy.
~ 1 Peter 1:15

Those who adore God
treat sin with treachery.