Enjoy your holiday weekend and thank God for those who made it possible.

Hello again. It is Friday, May 27, 2011, and most of America is preparing for the official kick off of the summer season, the Memorial Day Holiday. While the weak economy will no doubt impact some travel plans, many folks are making their plans to enjoy their time off. It reminds us that we are blessed in this nation because of those throughout our history who have paid the ultimate price. I do hope we all will keep that in mind as we plan our weekend activities. I am not sure what we will be doing but typically it does involve a grill being fired up at some point and time. I have noticed that the folks who build and sell those grills have stepped up their advertising. They must have gotten the memo about people staying closer to home. That, by the way, is how the free enterprise system works. Here we are in some difficult times due to unemployment and higher fuel costs. That's a huge problem but to some it reflects potential and opportunity. Some will market ways to puruse better fuel efficiency. Others will emphasize local entertainment as an alternative. And, vacation destinations will adjust their pricing to attract as many as they can. That is the American way folks where we are free to pursue opportunities to sell and we are free to choose what we will purchase. We have some out there today who are intent on messing with this system that has so well served our nation. I say improve it and put rules where they are needed, but please, for heaven's sake, don't mess up one of the free market accomplishments that has helped build the great nation we are.

That was not a paid political announcement from the U. S. Chamber of Commerce. It's something we all need to be aware of in a world, including many here at home, that is tilting towards a socialistic bent. When government gets too much control over the lives of its citizens, only bad things happen, and we end up becoming solely dependent upon it for our very existence. No thank you. We have something special here in America. Something special that sets up apart from the rest of the world. I just happen to believe God was behind our having the opportunity to become the nation we are and I am for its continuance as a force for freedom in the world. A little flag waving for us all as we get ready to celebrate one of the great examples of our freedoms, the right to choose what we do with our leisure time. The wonderful thing about many of our gatherings is the privilege of being with family. Family. That's the backbone of our nation. It's also the foundation for life as God designed it. Strong families make for a strong nation. Families built upon the fundamental truths found in God's Word honor Him and serve others. Thank God for our freedom of being able to respond and worship Him in the way we see fit. Don't take that for granted because many would love to see it altered and updated to reflect their view of what it should mean. Those who teach their families what God has to say about issues that are deemed controversial, well, some want to make those teachings into crimes, hate crimes. We only have the thread of religious liberty to keep this from becoming the law of the land. May God help us as a nation to maintain liberty so that we can respond to God in the way that He leads. Amen.

I don't know about you but I'm ready to take a break over the next few days. I've been busy this past week. As they used to say back home, I've had just about more than I could shake a stick at in terms of being busy. That idiom or figure of speech, more than you can shake a stick at, has been traced back to appearing in print as far back as 1818 in England. However, our very own David Crockett, you remember him from the Alamo and his great frontier exploits in life, this is a quote from a little booklet he wrote and published in 1843: "This was a temperance house, and there was nothing to treat a friend to that was worth shaking a stick at." Just in case you missed it, he was saying they did not serve liquor in that establishment, therefore, there wasn't anything there worth sharing with a friend. I know you were wondering about that little phrase and now we all have some insight into its origin. Poor old Davy, they still argue about him today. Was he a genuine hero at the Alamo or something less than that?  I used to watch him nearly every week and as a kid I thought he looked like a pretty decent hero to me, if that helps. I do pray that you and yours will be safe throughout the holiday weekend. I pray for those impacted by the violent weather over the past several weeks. I pray for those who wear the uniform of our nation and are at their duty station, serving in harm's way, even as I pen these words. May God bless each one and may God bless America. Amen. See you next time.       ......More later.