The yards in our Spring Valley Neighborhood are colored in red, white, and blue. These patriotic displays of American flags honoring our Nation’s independence are the product of Boy Scout Troup 478 sponsored by Spring Branch Presbyterian Church. I love my country and the patriotism exhibited by these Scouts.
For a donation of $40, Troup 478 will place the American Flag in our yards on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Veterans Day. I became a devoted American at an early age. Saying the Pledge at school each day. Giving the prayer over the classroom speakers each morning at Cy-Fair High School. I have always felt God’s presence as I watched the banner wave.
Years ago, I was the Chair of the Disabled Division of the Sam Houston Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. I worked with the late Woodrow Seals, United States Federal Judge for the Southern District of Texas. The personal satisfaction of having a hand in making the buildings and facilities accessible to disabled Scouts in our area rose above the difficulty of attending on time the meetings with Judge Seals at the McDonald’s near Kirby Drive at 7:30 a.m. before work.
Amidst the anger, tensions, and divisions within our country today, there is something uplifting about our Nation’s Forefathers who joined together to accomplish the founding of our Great Democracy.
In the 1770s there were great differences of opinion, loyalties, and loss of lives in the quest to be free. Those differences were far less important than the collective will to be free. Today, in our disagreements may we all still be and remain One Nation under God.
Let us all raise our lips and lift our hearts in thanksgiving to God as we say the Pledge of Allegiance on July the Fourth and every day thereafter.
God has spoken in Scripture as to our true freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
John 8:32
And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Let us pray together.
Almighty God – You gave all of us, Your children, the gift of Your love and the freedom to make our own decisions in our lives and in our walks of faith.
I thank You for our Forefathers, as Pilgrims of Faith, who gave me freedom and liberty under Your watch.
On this Fourth of July, I thank You for the blessing of living in the Land of Liberty.
Lord, please help me not forget that in my walk of faith in this nation under God I honor You and please You most when I treat my fellow citizens as I wish to be treated.
May our inner and outer conflicts be silenced by Your heavenly peace.
God, I give you my deepest thanks for my real freedom which came at the expense of Your own Son, Jesus. Because of Jesus, and His death and resurrection, I and those who believe in Him were freed of the bondage of sins. True freedom to the end of time, time which has no end in Your Kingdom. Amen
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Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.