Happy 4th of July!
Whew! It is 10:00 a.m. and already 84 degrees. The humidity is high, and I have spent the last 45 minutes OUTSIDE and IN THE ATTIC, looking for reasons (with the help of my friends) for why my air conditioner is working overtime. It ran for 10 hours yesterday non-stop, and since it is a relatively new unit, the reasons for it working so hard when the thermostat is set at 76 degrees is a bit of a mystery.

Well, we looked in the attic, and everything looks fine, insulation wise. Then out to the external unit, where it appeared to be running just fine, not straining, and cooling as expected. However, my friends think the coils are too dirty, and so for 20 minutes we cleaned the coils with a hose and sprayer. Amazing how dirty they were! I have no idea if that will help, but I am now safely, coolly, back inside watching the thermometer outside rise.

I don’t really expect it to do anything else. After all, it’s Independence Day! A day of celebrations: picnics, pools, sunshine, hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream, baseball and fireworks. In this one day, in the middle of summer, the USA takes the day off and celebrates our independence with a little bit of everything that is America. And in the horrid heat that engulfs the nation this time of year, we play outside and rejoice in our freedom and in one another.

Independence. That’s a pretty sweet word. In fact, it is a word that symbolizes the deepest desire of every living soul. Independence. Autonomy. Liberation. Freedom. Individuality. These words symbolize the United States of America – a nation established by invading immigrants, which has welcomed with open arms anyone from around the world who desired to become part of our free nation. For two centuries, the USA was a melting pot – a stew created from people who were born here and who came here from all over the world. The one thing they all had in common was a desire to be free, and so they came together, united in their belief that we could all live together in freedom and peace, and passionate in their defense of those rights for others.

Over the past thirty years, the heart of the USA has changed. It has become politically incorrect to celebrate individuality, autonomy, freedom and independence. We are no longer a melting pot of individuals striving for a common goal. We are now a salad, made up of immigrants who have come to this nation wanting to partake of our abundance and blessings without assimilating into our society. Each segment (ingredient) wishes to retain its own flavor – its own culture – while trying to change the existing culture of the USA. And they are succeeding.

Gone are the days of free speech. Gone are the days of freedom OF religion (not FROM religion). Going are the days of the right to keep and bear arms. Our freedoms, established by our founding fathers, are being eroded one by one.

This Independence Day, as we reflect on what was created by our founding fathers — on the lives of the men and women who stood against all aggression; the soldiers who fought on this soil and on foreign soil in defense of freedom and liberty; on our proud (if somewhat spotted) heritage — let us reflect with overwhelming gratitude on the greatest freedom of all – the freedom we have in Jesus Christ. No matter what happens to or in this nation, we can have that blessed assurance that we are held in His hands, and that He has prepared a place for us for all eternity – WITH HIM!

May your Independence Day reflect the true freedom you have in Christ Jesus!