A few thoughts this July 4th...

These are just some thoughts from what I wrote in my journal this morning:

The day of freedom seems a little ridiculous when there are so many slaves living in our country and around the world today...not the living is a good term because being bound in chains and doing labor every day isn't much of a life is it? .... Is it okay to not be very proud to be an American today of all days? I don't think I am very proud, I am a little ashamed...Around the world there are people starving and people living in captivity and today in America thousands upon thousands of dollars will be spent to celebrate our freedom and very little will be done to help those less fortunate than us. Think about what could be done if all (or even some) of the money spent on fireworks today was instead spend on food for the starving, clean water for the thirsty, efforts to free the 27 million slaves in our world today, shelter for the homeless, shoes and clothing for those that have none, and the list could go on...I'm not saying that we should not celebrate our freedom today because it is very much worth celebrating. I just think we take it for granted and don't think and act for those that don't have the freedom or good fortune that we have.

Did you put on your armor today?

I was just reading in Ephesians 6. Verses 10-20 are about the Armor of God. These verses are and forever will be used for illustrations and themes for camps and vacation Bible schools, which is good. We have heard it so many times throughout our lives though, but my thought for today is are we really doing it? Do we wake up each day and not only put on our physical clothing, but also prepare ourselves and clothe ourselves with the armor of God? Each morning as we are getting ready do we mentall and spiritually put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, fit our feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, pick our shield of faith and our sword of the Spirit (scripture), and finally place the helmet of salvation on our heads? I encourage you and myself to think about that everyday. Don't leave this great passage of scripture at camp or vacation Bible school. As Christ followers we need to daily put on our armor and be ready to stand up for our faith and battle the enemy. The end of this passage talks about prayer, our communication with the Most High King. Prayer is so important to daily life and to our battle against the enemy and our pursuit of God and not the things of this world. I was struck by the importance of this scripture and how as we grow older sometimes this scripture gets pushed aside because we hear it so many times as children, and I wanted to share that with you.