Happy 4th of July to everyone.  Where I am it promises to be a pleasant day, with perhaps some rain. We'll be smoking some venison and turkey in the back yard while enjoying the company of our family. Our newly arrived granddaughter Ella will be here along with her "cousin to come", baby Liam.

This day is more than just a paid day off for us. It is the the birthday of the United States of America, still today the "last best hope" among the nations for liberty, freedom and peace in a strife torn world. Only America in recent times has been willing to extend her bountious birthright across the globe.

This is a day to remember when it all began. I like to go back to the writings of our founding fathers to be reminded of the noble sentiments surrounding the events of this nations birth. John Adams wrote a letter to his wife Abigail on describing his thoughts at the resolution to declare independence, made on July 2 by the Continental Congress. Adams is nearly prophetic in his words:
 

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.

You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration and support and defend these states. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means. And that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even although we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not...

It may be the will of Heaven that America will suffer calamities still more wasting, and distress yet more dreadful. If this is to be the case, it will have this good effect at least. It will inspire us with many virtues which we have not, and correct many errors, follies and vices which threaten to disturb, dishonor and destroy us. The furnace of affliction produces refinement, in States as well as individuals...But I must submit all my hopes and fears to an overruling Providence, in which, unfashionable as the faith may be, I firmly believe.

Only the day has changed, we now keep July 4th instead of the 2nd. But Adams' words still resonate. Though these men had a keen sense of the Divine in their actions they still did not fully understand the underpinnings of the nation they sought to build. God was behind this nation. It was His divine will, told generations earlier to the patriarchs, that the descendants of Joseph's sons would together inhabit the rich places of the earth and make a difference for good among the nations.

The history of the the English speaking peoples, Great Britain and America, chronicle the fulfillment of those promises made in Genesis 48 and 49. I have been reading the recent book by that same name authored by Andrew Roberts. Roberts gives the record of that achievement over the past one hundred years. I recommend the book to anyone who wants to know the story.

Enjoy your day. Be safe. And give God thanks for what began on this day.