God Bless the USA, Let’s Pray

I don’t need science to tell me that meditation repairs brain matter

Just bow your head and talk to Him, void of all the societal chatter

 

See, there are places all around you can find a spot filled in silence

Here, at least for now, my walk and talk with Jesus, is my license

 

Go to some quiet place, exhale, bow in reverence, and just pray

List every little thing you are thankful for if you need words to say

 

Ask with respect, Lord please give me direction in these areas of life

Better yet, kneel beside your bed together, praying, husband and wife

 

Then maybe look inside yourself, find the hidden, and set it free

Talk with Him about it, all of it, don’t open your eyes, and you’ll see

 

It’s okay to ask Him for help here, where else would you rather go

There’s always an answer whether we understand or not, God knows

 

Which came first the Power of the Almighty or the power of repentance

I know it changes hearts, much less the obvious, our countenance

 

Pray at length for our leaders instead of complaining about him or her

We all long for the way that it was, so bend a knee, that’s how we were

 

Bring your grievances to the bench of the Supreme Judge in humility

Don’t carry them another day, have faith, it’ll be better for you, and we

 

It’s heard across this great land less and less, God Bless the USA

Maybe we’re the problem, let’s find a place, bow our heads, let’s pray

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Lest we forget.

Please remember what Memorial Day is about.

Give this a listen…pretty cool.

Our National Anthem

It’s a cool, clear, crisp autumn morning and I temporarily lose the ability to discern depth by gazing deeper and deeper into the vastness of blue above me. In the background, I am listening to a loop of various renditions of our National Anthem. This version has become one of my personal favorites. Sometimes I sing the words, sometimes I hum a bit, and sometimes the emotion just makes my voice sound like an old rusty gate swinging in the breeze. I listen to the words. I listen to the passion pouring from the various performers. I think of the setting in which the songs’ words were penned. I try to wrap my head around the meaning of the various phrases throughout the song to so many people in so many places around the world. Imagine for a minute how many thousands, even millions of times, a person somewhere on this planet has been thrilled to the core that “our flag was still there”. It gives me chills. I love this country.

How many of you know all of the words to the verse that is sung daily all over this wonderful country? How often do you sing these inspired words? It’s a great song, a tough song to sing, and it’s OUR National Anthem. I love to sing it. I love to hear it. I love to think about it, and all that it represents. I sing it often with my 3-1/2-year-old twins. They like the song already. It is truly my favorite song. When I hear it on various radio stations at noon time or to begin, or even end their broadcast day, I always listen. Always.

As for today, I have started my morning with the words of my favorite song and the depths of my favorite color. God Bless the USA.

Never Forget

I am re-blogging this piece in remembrance of 9/11/01. I have added only this paragraph and have deleted nothing. Just the same sentiments in remembrance. The crisp, clear, clean, cool morning this morning reminds me very much of that fateful morning 11 years ago. 11 years ago today, heroes weren’t born, but rather emerged, as heroism was in so many who, through events beyond their control, were present and heroic when their fellow Americans needed them most. Never Forget.

This page is a place to more permanently keep this close at hand. On 9/11/11 I watched, I listened to, and read pieces on the 10 year remembrance of 9/11. I cried, I thought, I remembered, I swelled with pride, I felt a lot of emotions that day. That evening into the wee hours of the following morning I also wrote a piece in my style, my words, and I want it to be here, close at hand. There will be times when I will add to this page I am sure but this is where it starts for me. Never forget.

9/11 – Ten Years Later – God Bless the USA

Today, and every day really, I thank God that I was fortunate enough to be born and raised in the greatest country in the world. I am proud to be an American every day. Please God, continue to bless the USA, and may we honor and glorify you in all we do. There is goodness in all of us. We were created and born, morally aware. And, just as those who ran towards the unknown terror of 9/11 as to free those who needed help, so did our founding fathers brave the unknown in hopes of freedom for all. It’s the USA, “One Nation, under God”, made up of millions of people with tremendous resiliency, and free will to choose that we will not give up, while harboring a true responsibility to help one another (all of whom are created equal) in times of need. I feel, and I pray for those who lost loved ones or saw so much more than anyone should see 10 years ago today. May we never forget those who were innocently taken and those who have sacrificed so much.

I am in no way trying to be political here and I don’t always know where my thoughts may take me, so let’s find out. I pray that we, the USA (that’s each one of us), don’t lose sight of the spirit that was embraced in founding our great country. I hope that we don’t forget to fight for the freedoms that we have defended around the globe. We should be continually thankful for those who have literally battled on our behalf and knowingly risked the greatest asset; a human life, for their country, our country, the USA. We should be cognizant of our own behaviors that help pave the way for true freedom in the future and be wary of those self indulgences that provoke others to restrict our freedoms with red tape and political correctness. This country was founded on right and wrong, and there is nothing political about that which is right. Right is right. Right is morally justified, while politically correct is often times a choice to act in a manner that gets a desired outcome. If the desired outcome is not right than why be politically correct?

It was December of 1967 when my dad and mom drove over the border from Canada back into the USA just so I could be born in the USA. That may not mean as much now as it did then, but I am awfully proud to have been born in the United States of America. I love Canada dearly and cherish my Canadian family who are some of the greatest people I have ever met. Still, I thank you dad and mom for making that run to Caribou, Maine, USA, right before Christmas, on my behalf.

My favorite combination of colors is truly the red, white, and blue. My favorite song is “The Star Spangled Banner”. Our National Anthem being sung at various events and venues is the television I record most often. I get goose bumps every single time I hear it. I think of the words and the inspiration behind them in a time of uncertainty. Those words will be 197 years old this week, and I think of how many times those words have meant so much too so many people. Climatically our anthem gets to “Our flag was still there” and I think of our resiliency, I think of our free will and am reminded to be so careful with this precious gift. I truly do think of us as the land of the free and the home of the brave. This week I again connect this to 9/11 as there has been, and hopefully always will be an American flag flying at Ground Zero. I will also never forget those who were technically free to run, as thousands did, but instead, instinctively were brave as so many before them have been.

I offer a closing prayer for those who care to read it. With my head bowed, I thank you God for this great country of ours, and for the thousands upon thousands of brave men and women who have given their all to maintain our freedom and our independence. I pray that we don’t forget the sacrifices and struggles past and present, allowing our quality of life to be what it can be today. We have so very much to be thankful for. In a time when we seem to measure our life’s success by things we have accumulated, money we earn, or status we have attained; may we truly cherish the choices we have, the freedoms we share, and the right to put God and our families first. I pray that each of us make the time and the commitment to love and fellowship with friends and family. At the end of our days, it’s our family who will be there with us. The recollection of the choices we were able to make will ease our hearts and minds when our days here are short. It will be the freedoms we embraced, the risks we were willing and able to take, and the free will to forgive and make that which is wrong, right that will allow a smile on our lips as we breathe for the last time. Lord, I pray we wait not, for those days to think on these things, but to actively pursue them with all that we are, and all we can be. We know not what the future holds for any of us. Let us not be caught up in that uncertainty, but have faith in You, and the tremendous power we possess to be present now. May we serve you Lord each day, knowing that the time we invest in one another is truly what makes the world go round. Lord I thank you for your many blessings as there are too many to count. Our days are full of blessings that we often times don’t even take the time to notice or thank you for. Forgive us for our sins and may we learn from our mistakes, in doing so, setting an example for others to follow so that we all may be better off for it. Lord, I ask these things in your name. Amen.