Growing up in a household with three sisters there always seemed to be young people at our place around the 4th of July. Perhaps that was when they got leave from their service obligations and could pursue some sort of normalcy. At any rate, there they were. When the young soldiers showed up things got exciting. Like the time one of them decided it would be fun to catch the 6 foot gator living in our pond. He discovered it was a lot easier to get the thing to bite the lure than it was to get it off the line once the hooks were set. He dragged it from the pond and up the trail to our yard before Daddy realized what he was doing. Dad was not too happy having those snapping jaws so close to his children and grandchildren. He suggested with a certain degree of forcefulness that the young man cut the line and let the beast go back to the pond. When he saw the fire in daddy’s baby blues the young man decided he was finished playing with the gator and he “could” replace the expensive fishing lure clamped fiercely in the gator’s jaws.
Or how ‘bout the time one of them brought out his stash of illegal fireworks purchased in a neighboring state on the way home from boot camp? The thunderous boom of the M-80’s and Cherry Bombs were the loudest noises our sheltered lives had ever heard! And the strings of firecrackers all lit at once rivaled any machinegun activity we had ever seen on TV. Sparklers, smoke bombs, roman candles…we had them all thanks to our guests.
Mother always put on a feed for everyone. Oh, nothing fancy. Just sandwiches and maybe a fried chicken. And did I mention Mom’s special potato salad? The best!
I’m still not sure where the watermelons came from. Certainly not from our meager resources. Maybe one of the young warriors had thought to get them as they passed through the melon fields. I just remember they were good!
In those days I’m not certain I grasped that I was witnessing the blessing of God on our Nation. A country that could produce the finest youth ever to wear the uniform and grow the bountiful harvest we all enjoyed as well. Plus provide the pure freedom to enjoy it all without fear of interference from anyone. As an older and hopefully wiser person, I now know that the life blood of some of those very young men was shed to keep our way of life from becoming a thing of the past. I remember the solemn services as their lives were celebrated over flag draped coffins as bugles softly blew taps when prayer was done.
This Fourth of July, let us remember our roots and heritage as one nation under God. And let us pledge ourselves anew to the principles that made us a great nation to start with.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!”
Respectfully,
Richard Orrell, pastor
