REFLECTIONS ON THE 4TH OF JULY

For many years when I was younger, the 4th of July was a day filled with 
excitement and fun.  My family always had a reunion at my grandmother's 
house out in the country.  Everyone came, including my sixteen aunts and 
uncles and my 20+ cousins, and we had a massive fish fry.  All of us 
grandchildren would shoot "fireworks," often endangering our lives and 
everyone else's.  Later in the day, we would go down to the creek and go 
swimming.  It was what one would imagine an "all-American" family doing 
on a special holiday occasion.

While I have many fond memories of the 4th at my grandmother's, I do 
regret one thing—we seldom focused on why we were together—to 
celebrate the birth of the nation that gave us these opportunities and many 
like them.  The 4th was just another day when dad didn't have to work and I 
got to play with all my cousins.  Fortunately, time has a wonderful way of 
refocusing our thoughts and values.

As I have gotten older, my awareness of the greatness of America has 
grown.  I know that "we" have plenty of problems in this great land; but just 
watch the evening news about the violence, hatred and poverty of other 
nations around the world and our problems pale in comparison.  God has 
truly blessed America.

Our nation's greatness is best summed up in the words of our national 
anthem, written by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812.  Read the 
words again, especially the verses that we normally do not hear, and have a 
great 4th of July.

Oh, say! can you see by the dawn's early light 
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming; 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, 
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? 
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there: 
Oh, say! Does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? 
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, 
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, 
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, 
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? 
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, 
In fully glory reflected now shines in the stream: 
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, long may it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! 
And where is that band who so valiantly swore 
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion 
A home and a country should leave us no more? 
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution! 
No refuge could save the hireling and slave 
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave: 
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand 
Between their loved home and the war's desolation! 
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land 
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! 
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, 
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust": 
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.


Leslie S. Chapman