The Fourth of July celebration will soon take place in Port O’Connor with the greatest fireworks display in the whole region. Our Chamber of Commerce always does an excellent job with a huge task. They must plan long before summer arrives so all the festivities can come off as expected. A group of friends gather each year on our parsonage’s balcony to watch the excellent display of beautiful “lights in the sky,” then we watch the hundreds of cars that are trying to get back home from the front beach – and that “light show” generally lasts much longer than the official one.
The Chapel will have a special service where we will all remember the founding of our nation and praise the Lord for His blessings upon us. There is no nation on earth that has been blessed by God like the United States of America. We have more freedoms, more natural resources, and more opportunities than any place on earth! We believe it is fitting for us to pause from the ice cream, watermelon, and barbecue to praise the Lord for His blessings!
Less than three decades after the end of the Revolutionary War that won the United States its independence, the former colonies once again found themselves embroiled with Great Britain. Two years into the conflict we now call the War of 1812 the British marched into Washington, D.C. nearly unopposed.
The United States Army and government officials abandoned the capitol, escaping to Virginia. The humiliating British onslaught climaxed with the torching of the Capitol building, the White House, and many other structures. It took a providential storm to drive the British from the city.
During the following assault on Baltimore’s Fort McHenry, lawyer Francis Scott Key found himself aboard the admiral’s ship of the British fleet in order to negotiate the release of a medical doctor friend. The release terms attained, the two were temporarily detained while the bombardment of the fort continued. The darkness caused Key to wonder how the fort – and the flag – fared.
When the morning dawned, Key peered anxiously through the early mist that shrouded the ship. The flag was still flying, which meant that Fort McHenry was still in American’s hands. Quickly he scribbled some words on an envelope he had been carrying. They were the lyrics of “Defense of Fort McHenry,” later to be called “The Star Spangled Banner.”
How many of us know the fourth verse of “The Star Spangled Banner”?
“Oh! Thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peach, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”
Frances Scott Key was a devout Christian who started thousands of Sunday Schools in his role with the American Sunday School Union. That final stanza was based upon Psalm 143:8: “Cause me to hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in Three do I trust; cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto Thee.”
It was not until 1931 “The Star-Spangled Banner” became the national anthem. But 50 years after Key penned his tribute, “In God We Trust” first appeared on our United States coinage – and in 1956, Congress declared it the national motto. By faith, Francis Scott Key saw that as the motto for our nation in 1814.
With many people attempting to replace our flag, may we fly our flag proudly this Independence Day. May we also recognize our Dependence upon God! Trust in God is our national heritage, our mottto…and in our national anthem. “ “God Bless America!” “God Bless the U.S.A.!”
