Originally entitled Yankee Doodle, this is one of several versions of a scene painted by A. M. Willard that came to be known as The Spirit of ’76
During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain in 1776 actually occurred on July 2, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia declaring the United States independent from Great Britain’s rule. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the wording of the Declaration, finally approving it two days later on July 4. [Some debate the actual date – Wikipedia]
It is time for another holiday here in the United States of America. This is one of the most important celebrations for the country because of what it represents. Once this Declaration of Independence was signed, the real growth of America began. God has blessed our country with one of the most freedoms for personal liberty and freedom of religion. [Unfortunately, many of these freedoms are being taken away. Christians have less and less freedom to worship the Lord as we once had. Our country was founded on Christian principles, but now some are trying to remove all traces of our founding truths.
I try not to get political on this site, but it does make us sad what is going on currently. With that said, I will be silent on the political side.
One of my favorite Red birds! A visitor to our feeders.
White Ibis on Table by Lee
A very common White bird that walked through our yard today.
And the Blue Jay, another regular visitor to our feeders:
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) by Daves BirdingPix
This refers to Abraham, but it is still very true today:
“All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:13-16 NASB)
PS: Keep me in your prayers. Tomorrow morning I am having a Cataract implant surgery. That is one reason this is a few days early for the holiday. Will be off the computer for a few days. I had the left eye implant completed several years ago and all went well. We are praying that the same will be true for this right eye. All the more to see the Lord’s Avian Wonders – BETTER!
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Corinthians 3:17 KJV)
Today we celebrate the Fourth of July. This is a great telling of what this Pledge should mean to all of us Americans. Our country was founded on Christian Principles, but unfortunately, today many are turning their backs on those principles, wanting to do their own things.
Also, many are turning their backs on our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Again, they are wanting to do their own things. Lord help us to keep America on the right path.
While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. (2 Peter 2:19-20 KJV)
But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. (1 Corinthians 8:9 KJV)
Once there were two hawks named Jerry and Jemima. They were looking for a place to live. They both needed just the right place if they wanted to watch some fireworks launch for the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C. The Fourth was almost here and Jerry and Jemima wanted to get the best view.
There were a lot of interesting monuments to nest in, but none of them seemed quite right. First, Jerry decided to make a nest on top of the capital building, but many construction workers were working on the dome of the building. He tried the Lincoln memorial next, but there were so many people, even more the night when the fireworks went off.
Jerry and Jemima tried the Jefferson memorial because there were many birds and geese since it was close to a lake and people fed them. But it seemed to Jerry that there were too many birds.
All this time there was another monument taking up their view. It was the Washington monument and it was the tallest out of all of them.
Jerry and Jemima flew up to the top of the Washington monument. There, on all four sides, were small windows. Jerry and Jemima flew up right past one of the windows and landed above it. They both scared some people who were looking out at that very moment.
Jerry and Jemima had a good view of everything, and Jerry decided this was the perfect place to build a nest.
By that night, they both had collected a bunch of sticks and twigs to make the nest. They finished just in time to see the bright fireworks go off for the Fourth of July celebration.
“Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, And spread its wings toward the south? Does the eagle mount up at your command, And make its nest on high? On the rock it dwells and resides, On the crag of the rock and the stronghold.” (Job 39:26-28 NKJV)
Lee’s Addition:
Emma has given us another great story and part of it is true. She and her father were recently in Washington DC and a hawk flew at the window they were looking out of. Both were startled and stepped back. Tried to find a photo with the windows, but couldn’t find one that wasn’t copyrighted.
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. (Psalms 16:5-6 ESV)
Here in the United States, yesterday was celebrated as “Independence Day” or more commonly called the “Forth Of July.” The Lord has blessed the country through the years because the people chose to look to the Lord, the Creator, for guidance. Today is another story, but that is not the point of this article.
We really should be celebrating “Dependence Day” to thank the Lord God for giving us the privilege to be born and/or live here.
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. (Romans 9:16 ESV)
We are thankful for this country and while the Orchestra plays the “Military Medley” enjoy some of the sights of the Land of the Home and the Brave. These are just photos from some of our recent trips that make me appreciate our country. Many are military, but also museums, scenery from our great land of the free and nostalgia things from the past.
P.S. Other than the Eagles, I gave the birds a rest. :)
And He made from one [common origin, one source, one blood] all nations of men to settle on the face of the earth, having definitely determined [their] allotted periods of time and the fixed boundaries of their habitation (their settlements, lands, and abodes), So that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him, although He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being; (Acts 17:26-28a AMP)
May you enjoy your day and may you remember our founders and their sacrifices to form our country. More than that, may you remember the Lord and His Word which provided the principles to govern this country.
Unfortunately, many today are trying to remove those principles from our laws and morality. Today, many are:
“You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— (Deuteronomy 12:8 NKJV)
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise. (Proverbs 12:15 NKJV)
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts. (Proverbs 21:2 NKJV)
Our leaders are more worried about being “politically correct” instead of doing what is right based on the Word of God. Chunk by chunk, Christianity and it’s principles, which guided our Founding Fathers, are being removed from our country. In place, things that are clearly taught as sin are now the “right” of the people to do, while the “rights” of Christians are being taken away. We are on the way to becoming a pagan nation. So this year, the 4th of July is sadder than last year.
Yet, the Lord has still allowed us to live in the greatest nation, because of those great Founding Fathers that believed in God. They applied the principles found in God’s Word to found this great nation. I am thankful that, so far, we still have the privilege to openly worship our Lord in our churches. I am thankful the Lord let me be born here.
The Bald-headed Eagle (Bald Eagle) – Birds Illustrated by Color Photography, 1897
George Washington
1st U.S. President
“While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.”
--The Writings of Washington, pp. 342-343.
John Adams
2nd U.S. President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence
“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God … What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.”
--Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III, p. 9.
“The general principles, on which the Fathers achieved independence, were the only Principles in which that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite, and these Principles only could be intended by them in their address, or by me in my answer. And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all these Sects were United: And the general Principles of English and American Liberty, in which all those young Men United, and which had United all Parties in America, in Majorities sufficient to assert and maintain her Independence.
“Now I will avow, that I then believe, and now believe, that those general Principles of Christianity, are as eternal and immutable, as the Existence and Attributes of God; and that those Principles of Liberty, are as unalterable as human Nature and our terrestrial, mundane System.”
--Adams wrote this on June 28, 1813, excerpt from a letter to Thomas Jefferson.
Thomas Jefferson
3rd U.S. President, Drafter and Signer of the Declaration of Independence
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever; That a revolution of the wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probable by Supernatural influence! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in that event.”
--Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, p. 237.
“I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.”
--The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, p. 385.
John Hancock
1st Signer of the Declaration of Independence
“Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. … Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.”
--History of the United States of America, Vol. II, p. 229.
Benjamin Franklin
Signer of the Declaration of Independence and Unites States Constitution
“Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped.
“That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them.
“As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, is the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see;
“But I apprehend it has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence, as probably it has, of making his doctrines more respected and more observed; especially as I do not perceive, that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in his government of the world with any peculiar marks of his displeasure.”
--Benjamin Franklin wrote this in a letter to Ezra Stiles, President of Yale University on March 9, 1790.
Then Jesus said … “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32 NKJV)
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:16-21 NKJV)
Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus 