Brown's Daily Word 7-2-07

Good Morning,

Atop the hill in Washington, D.C. stands the Capitol Building of the United States of America. The cornerstone was laid in 1793 but the crowning touch is the statue on top of the rotunda, known as the “Freedom Lady”, that was placed there in 1863. The Freedom Lady stands proudly nearly 20 feet tall atop the dome. A crest of stars frames her face.

A shield of Stars and Stripes is in her left hand. The Latin phrase “E Pluribus Unum,” meaning out of many one, is inscribed on her base. Sculpted in Rome, “the Lady” was brought to America aboard a sailing ship. During the trip across the Atlantic Ocean, a fierce storm developed. The Captain ordered cargo thrown overboard to lighten the load. The sailors wanted to throw the heavy statue overboard, but the captain refused, shouting over the wind, “No! Never! We’ll flounder before we throw ‘Freedom’ away.” And so, “Freedom” was saved, and the statue stands above the dome today, because one man stood for “Freedom.”

Just as our nation celebrates political independence and freedom on the fourth of July, we also celebrate religious independence in a land which was born largely out of a desire to worship God freely and according to one’s own conscious and convictions.

Several years ago, a pastor was asked to read a prayer before the state House in Kansas. His name is Pastor Joe Wright, the pastor at Central Christian Church in Wichita, Kansas. He has been severely criticized and maligned for his prayer.
"Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ’Woe to those who call evil good,’ but that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
"We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it moral pluralism; We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism; We have endorsed perversions and called it alternative lifestyles; We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery; We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation;We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare; We have killed our unborn and called it choice; We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable;
"We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem; We have abused power and called it political savvy; We have coveted our neighbors’ possessions and called it ambition; We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression; We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. I ask it in the name of Your Son, the Living Savior; Jesus Christ. Amen."

Let us remember once again to "proclaim liberty throughout the land", the liberty that comes from a walking, talking, living, breathing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Keep us in prayer today as Alice and I are driving out to Boston, leaving in just a few minutes. Keep praying for Janice, who will be having her baby "any day now", and for Sunita, who is in Rwanda for 10 days.

In Christ,
Brown