Fourth of July brings back memories. Firecrackers, Black Cats, M-80’s, bottle rockets.
My favorites were possibly the most dangerous. Bottle rockets. Put it in an old “coke a cola” bottle, light and run. You ran because you never knew where it would go. That was the fun part. The bad part was some farmer’s fields were set on fire or, perhaps, an occasional roof fire.
Roman candles, “bursting in air” were my favorite. You could imagine those Revolutionary War rockets exploding in mid air. You could see Roman candles for a mile, lighting up the night sky.
But my most favorite memory was home-made ice cream. The seat of honor was the burlap top over the ice-cream bucket. Somebody had to sit on it to hold the freezer down. That was a much better job than turning the crank.
Forget electric freezers. It took muscle to crank ice cream by hand.
Things are different now. I believe bottle rockets are against the law. It costs far more to make homemade ice cream than buying it from the store. Fresh tomatoes are replaced by imported professionally grown tomatoes.
There are a lot of things that are different today…not just the way we celebrate our country’s birth. There are deep divisions over morality, racism, hunger, and violence.
Changes are happening. I need to be reminded the world is the world. And we can’t expect our culture to adopt the standards of God’s Kingdom. God’s Kingdom is counter to the culture of man. The values of man’s kingdoms are not the values of God’s Kingdom.
There are two choices of lifestyle: the world’s way or Jesus’ way.
“It is absolutely clear God has called you to a free life…. Rather use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That is an act of true freedom (Gal 5, The Message) Jesus said there will be a day when He will say: “I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was homeless and you gave me a room; I was shivering and you gave me clothes; I was sick and you stopped to visit me; I was in prison and you came to me. … Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored that was me—you did it to me”. Matt 25 from the Message Two ways to live. Your choice.
For the freedom to practice our beliefs without coercion, we are truly blessed.
So this fourth, grill some hot dogs, use electric ice-cream makers, enjoy the fireworks.
And may all your fingers be intact on the fifth.
