Grateful

Last week in church we sang the national anthem.

I've been thinking about the words ever since.  As if in response to my thoughts, I saw a 10-12 yr old girl sing the anthem as the opening to the NBA finals game and was rather sickened by her treatment of the anthem and the crowd's reaction to it.  Have we become desensitized to our own freedoms?  Do we keep a respect and honor for that which our fathers and so many soldiers fought for?  We never sing the other verses of our national anthem except in church and each time I do I'm moved to tears by them.  So as a salute to our nation and our God, I wanted to write them down today.

The Star-Spangled Banner

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 rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof thru 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 thru the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the 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 full glory reflected now shines on 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!

Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand

Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land

Praise the Pow'r 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!

May we never forget that we have such wonderful freedoms because sacrifices were made.  I have hopes that my children will know the God who made this land a possibility and continue to honor Him who gave us the choice to be free!

(I have many updates from our trip to Utah/Idaho, but I honestly have hardly had a chance to keep myself fed in a normal day.  Hopefully I'll be able to catch up this week and feel like I have the time to post all the pictures.)