The 4th

This is from the 4th I forgot I wrote it:

So on the 4th of July I sat outside my in-laws house watching fireworks off in the distance, like I would assume that many people did all over our great Nation. As I was watching the fireworks I couldn't help but wonder what the big attraction to watching fireworks is? Is it the colors flashing in the sky? Is it the noise that they make? Is it some innate pyromaniac that is in us all that just loves fire and things exploding? I couldn't figure it out. I will have to admit that when I was younger I was very excited to see the lights flashing in the sky while when I got old it was probably the fire and exploding that would get me out there early so that I could get as close as I could to watch them shoot up from their point of origination. Probably secretly hoping that one of the guys blows off a hand or something, because that would be awesome. Now I am just not sure….

I understand that it is the celebration of our Nation’s independence, and independence that I love and appreciate and sometimes take for granted; the same independence that many men and women have died and continue to die for; the same independence that allows me to worship the all-knowing and masterful creator God. The same independence that allows my neighbor to worship Buda or Allah or whatever God they so chose to worship. What a great Nation we leave in. As I watched those fireworks wishing that I was back inside playing games I couldn’t help but reflect on my independence in this county that those fireworks were celebrating. This thought eventually led me to thinking about the Independence and freedom that I receive by being a child of that same God that I worship and have pledged my life to back in the 7th grade.

How blessed am I that I worship a God that loves me so much that he would give me freedom from the bondage of sin through the death of His one and only Son. He didn’t have to give me those freedoms but did because of his love for me. When I read books like Leviticus and Deuteronomy and see what it took to atone for your sins I scream praises to God. He saw that we were not cutting it so He gave us another way to atone for our sins with His Son freeing us from the old laws and giving us total freedom and independence from our sin.

As I was still watching the fireworks wondering why we have not got to the point where we can cause a firework to blow up into a picture, like a Scooby Doo or a Fred Flintstone or some other iconic cartoon character that everyone could see. I mean we can send shuttles into space and have space stations orbiting 100’s of miles above our heads but we can’t make a firework blow up in to Scooby Doo’s face? We need to get somebody on that, let’s make fireworks something to oooooohhhhhhhh and aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh at because the colors are getting pretty old.

After having that thought I drifted back to being thankful to the Father for freedom. For allowing me to grow up in the USA, for letting me grow up in my parents home, for giving me the friends and family I have, for my AMAZING wife, for His love, for His Son. I went on and on with all the things that he has blessed me with until someone said something about something and I was snapped back to the LAME fireworks show that never took the shape of Scooby, WEAK!! Even with the pointless fireworks show that I saw I still had a good July 4th. I had an encounter with God and it was pretty incredible.