July 4, 1776 - 2010 Independence Day!

ENJOY the holiday ... the fireworks ...
(The National Archives Building Washington DC)
BE SAFE ...
(Inside the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom)
APPRECIATE your FREEDOM ...

(Artist: John Trumbull - Commissioned 1817 - Purchased 1819; Placed 1826 in the Rotunda)
REMEMBER our forefathers ...

(Currier and Ives Lithograph - Color Slide - Between 1835 and 1856)
DEFYING tyranny ... STANDING courageously ...

THEY FOUGHT for our RIGHT to LIBERTY!!! (ABOVE) "The Declaration of Independence being fully adopted, John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress took up the pen and signed his name to it in a large bold hand; then rising he said, "There! John Bull can read my name without spectacles, and may double his reward for my head. That is my defiance!"

There is a wonderful pictoral history of the events leading up to July 4, 1776 here: from the Library of Congress

We would do well to look back and remember ... rekindle a desire and a passion to preserve our liberty and actively seek to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT ... while we still can!!!

If we, as citizens of these United States of America, remain mute and faceless ... we are very likely to lose the very freedoms that our forefathers fought so hard to obtain!

We cannot continue to take this precious document, and everything it stands for, for granted anymore! The Declaration of Independence is uniquely OURS ... we need to OWN it and PROTECT it!

Here is a very cool opportunity to literally stand in agreement with our forefathers:
Sign the Declaration of Independence: Choose a pen, add YOUR name and print it out! .
Click here: Visit the National Archives Interactive Signing of the Declaration of Independence

The Fourth of July is a wonderful time to consider our freedom—as Americans and as Christians. Our national freedom is precious, but our freedom in Christ is of infinite worth.

Gratitude without measure wells up in my heart, when I consider the brave men and women of the American military who, this Fourth of July, will be fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan to combat the tyranny of terrorism.

These soldiers stand in the train of valiant warriors who fought in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and the first Gulf War. Each of these conflicts—while unique in themselves—shared the common goal of protecting American freedom. Today's battles are no different.

But even as I prize my freedom as an American, I am moved to consider a greater freedom—my freedom in Christ. It is the freedom that comes with being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

"If you abide in My Word," our Lord declares, "you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-32).

The saving truth that Jesus speaks of in John 8:32 brings ultimate freedom—freedom from sin and death and the devil; freedom from a life of futility and an eternity of wrath. It is freedom from the tyranny of hate and bitterness and cruelty. It is the freedom to love God and neighbor.

May this "Declaration of Independence" be on my lips and in my heart this Fourth of July!

(Above exerpts from Another Declaration of Independence: Freedom in Christ by Mike Pohlman)