It’s been 248 Years…

This Fourth of July we celebrate our 248th year of freedom in the United States.

Across the nation, summer is in full swing. It’s hot, kids are on summer break, pools are open and bar-b-que grills are running at full throttle… all as it should be.

We are also in the middle of an election year — one of the privileges the fight for freedom secured for us and which has endured for two–and–a–half centuries.

We must never forget the courage and toil that secured freedom then and in countless other instances since then that preserved the liberty we enjoy today.

Perhaps Thomas Paine shared this sentiment as succinctly as ever when he said, “If there must be trouble, let it me in my day, that my child may have peace.”

The spirit of Paine and many others who fought then lives on in us today as we seek to preserve a better place for those who come after us. At times that is a challenge, but we persist, standing firm on the truth of God’s Word and the standard set before us.

As we Americans do every year — enjoy the holiday — reflect on what has been done in the past and the freedom we enjoy today. Let’s also look ahead as we link arms to face the challenges before us as our nation has done for nearly 250 years.