Good Saturday morning to you on this holiday weekend here in our corner of the world where sunshine and warm temperatures are making it a good day to enjoy the outdoors. Joel is already off riding as I write this. I am sitting in the living room with the doors open, tuning my ear to the birds singing and the tree leaves rustling in the wind.
We live very close to the high school grounds, from which the city fireworks are displayed each year. We are just across the river, and every year we pull chairs up to the window and watch through the trees from the comfort of our home. If the wind is just right, we have had the debris from the fireworks land in ours and the neighbors yards. In those years, Joel goes out to make sure nothing is left to start a grass fire.
The fourth of July always reminds me of our years in the Air Force. Joel spent 8 years in the military from 1968 through 1976. This was during the Viet Nam war and the draft was in place. Joel received his draft notice, and chose to enlist in the Air Force rather than be in the front lines of the Army. One thing that I have always liked is the way the military respected our country. If we were in a theater, before the movie started the flag would come on the screen and the whole theater would stand at attention while the anthem was sung. I remember on Clark Air Force Base that if you were walking or driving when the flag was being lowered, all people and cars stopped out of respect. If you were in a car, you got out and stood at attention until the flag was down.
For me, I always connected the military "rules" of respect with the motto....the truth...."In God we trust." God blessed us with a great freedom in America and it was and is important to be thankful for that freedom. We saw the consequences of a dictatorship when we lived in The Philippines. We knew the importance of freedom. In the eight years we were in the Air Force we moved to 5 different bases. We lived in 4 states and 1 third world country. We knew we had to trust God on our journey. In each place we lived, we saw God at work in our lives.
We are now in a season of needing to focus on "In God we trust" more than ever. We are continuing to look for ways we see God at work in our lives. I had appointments last Wednesday that left us shaken. The battle will continue for my health and the only way through is to trust God. For weeks I have found myself waking somewhere between 5 and 6 each morning, a perfect time to have a tsunami of emotions wash over me. Mostly negative. I realized recently that I have a choice as I toss and turn.....to dwell on the whys and what ifs or to use the time to connect with God. It is a daily blessing to remember, "In God We Trust."
When we lived in The Philippines, Marcos was leader of the country. There was Martial Law ( no one could be on the streets after 10:30 at night) and people were afraid of Marcos and his people. Our maid would never speak his name out loud, but only in a whisper. We watched the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. We, as Americans, watched young children dig through our garbage to eat the food we were throwing out! In general Filipinos who worked for us Americans made 7 pesos a day....which was $1. Seriously, it opened our eyes to how wealthy we are and what great privileges we have as Americans. Let us never take them for granted. And as we celebrate this country of ours, all the good, the bad, and even the ugly, let us never forget...."In God we trust."
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