Yes, America has been blessed by the Lord, and we should never forget that is why we are a great nation!

Yours truly with the Chick-fil-A location owner's kids!

Okay. Here we are again, celebrating another Friday, this one being on December 2, 2011. The wife and I, also known as, the dynamic duo from the North Pole, made our appearance at a Chick-fil-A last evening for a three hour time of fun and fellowship. Yesterday morning when I kissed her goodbye just before 4 a.m., she groggily muttered that I should not forget to remember we were scheduled to have Christmas fun today. What? Hello? I don't know what pill she took but I think I will have a couple, thank you very much! Joking. Joking only. Even my mom has been encouraging me to be more ho ho ho as I prepare for each venue. Maybe I should have gotten the Grinch costume or maybe the Mr. MaGoo. (I've always loved Jim Backus doing the voice of Scrooge as Mr. MaGoo!) What my wife and mom don't know is that I have a secret weapon. They are called kids, and they come in all shapes and sizes, from one to 99, and when they and I meet something wonderful happens and that's what it takes to get me fired up and ready to go. I think back on the memories we had as children and the fun stuff at Christmastime played a huge role. I've said it before but it's always good to note again that everyone involved in my upbringing emphasized the birth of our Lord and Savior as the priority of Christmas. Growing up, we did our Christmas program at our local fellowship. We had our lessons from Isaiah, Micah, Matthew, and Luke. And, we also had a great time of presents and parties. Some don't see how you can do both. I not only understand that, I both respect it, and readily admit that I have wrestled with the concept myself. My wife and I chose to honor the Lord in our family by remembering His birth, and to also enjoy the presents, the tree, and Santa too. We found it a difficult balance worth the effort.

I listened to a program the other day where the discussion topic focused on the status of our nation. Most agree we are a great nation and some use the words American exceptionalism to define what makes us a different nation when compared to others. Not everyone agrees. There are some who think we are rather ordinary but we have always thought ourselves to be something special, therefore, this idea about us being great or us being the greatest is more of an illusion than reality. Some of the experts debated these thoughts. Nearly everyone knows that we are currently not where we once were. One caller blamed religion for all the problems that America faces. One of the experts pointed out that we remain the most religious of all the western nations and that in his opinion, it could well be that we have been exceptional because of being a people of faith. I nearly had to pull off the road. He went on to say if you compare our history and look for values or features that distinguish us from others, religious faith is one of the dominating differences. Could it be that we have a wonderful illustration in this dialogue of God's fulfillment of His promise: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord."? (Psalm 33:12) The man sharing the data was not promoting religion, he was just reporting the facts as they present themselves throughout the history of our nation. I say Amen to his analysis and I say let us all pray that we would return to that position of being a nation being blessed mightily by Almighty God.

Let me be clear about this matter of how we think about ourselves. We who are believers must always yield to thus says the Word of the Lord. The Lord would have us to know that whatever we have, whatever we achieve, and whatever status we experience, it is because of His provisions. We are never to think more highly of ourselves than we should because we do realize that we are a fallen people living in a fallen world in need of God's grace every moment of every day. This does not preclude patriotism or a sense of optimism in our nation because of God's hand on our land. I will be the first to say there are many who turn God's blessings into a rally for self praise and worship, even when they promote our country. That would be contrary to the truth because it would distort the source of any and all blessings on our land. Has God blessed in a special way the United States of America? He most certainly has and when we take His blessings and seek to accomplish His purpose, then I believe we will be blessed again. There's much more to all of this but I need to wrap up another week of our daily visits across the internet fence, as neighbors used to do. We made more family photos last evening at the suggestion of our helper elves. These two young ladies were live wires and they seemed to be sweet, sincere, and wholesome. They thought everyone should be in the picture including mom and dad. Family. The one we go home to each day, and God's family which He has allowed us to be a part of, now that is something to celebrate as I bid you farewell for now and may God bless us all. Amen.    ...More later.