Bored? I suppose we could all synchronize a wave together to greet the day. That's what the folks at the Super Bowl did while they waited for the lights to come back on. We could call it our
Wednesday Wave, here on
February 6, 2013. Today is the birth date of President Ronald Reagan. I believe him to be a great president and a great American. He had a view of our nation based on what he believed was the hopes and dreams of our founders. In his famous speech from 1974 entitled: A City on a Hill, he reminded those listening of our nation's connection to Almighty God, "Standing on the tiny deck of the Arabella in 1630 off the Massachusetts coast, John Winthrop said, 'We will be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world.' Well, we have not dealt falsely with our God, even if He is temporarily suspended from the classroom.", and closed with these great words: "We cannot escape our destiny, nor should we try to do so. The leadership of the free world was thrust upon us two centuries ago in that little hall of Philadelphia. In the days following World War II, when the economic strength and power of America was all that stood between the world and the return to the dark ages, Pope Pius XII said, “The American people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish actions. Into the hands of America God has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind.” We are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth."
I know there are many who detest President Reagan and his time in office. That too is a part of the American context. He had his flaws and many of the criticisms of his decision making is warranted. However, he was a man, first and foremost, who embodied the American ideals of integrity and character. Not perfect. Much has been learned about him after he left office and after his death. It has been learned that he was a man that was a whole lot more intelligent than he was ever given credit for. This has been gleaned from his personal handwritten journals and notes. He was also a man of deep religious conviction. Today throughout the world there are millions who are no longer under the domination of communism because of President Reagan's unwavering stand for freedom for all people, everywhere. Sadly, many of these freedoms have been eroded over the past several years. In some cases, people have won against dictatorship only to be re-enslaved by a form of religious totalitarionism. As we see what is happening on the 24x7 news cycle it presents the question: Where is the leader of the free world who is willing to call enslavement of any kind...evil? President Reagan had no problem calling evil evil. He was ridiculed and called a war monger but in the end....the wall came down. The evil empire was dismantled and I, for one, say thanks be to God for giving us leaders like Ronald Reagan.
Feel free to disagree. We can still do that openly in this land of the free and home of the brave. Since I brought all of this up, I might as well leave you with a few more of his memorble quotations. ~ "The American dream is not that every man must be level with every other man. The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become." ~ "A taxpayer is someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take a civil-service exam." ~ "I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting." ~ "The ultimate determinate in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas - a trial of spiritual resolve; the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideas to which we are dedicated." ~ "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his." ~ "I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still. And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that; after 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home." ~ Okay. That's enough for today. May our great God bless our great land....again!
Amen. .....More later.
Bored? I suppose we could all synchronize a wave together to greet the day. That's what the folks at the Super Bowl did while they waited for the lights to come back on. We could call it our Wednesday Wave, here on February 6, 2013. Today is the birth date of President Ronald Reagan. I believe him to be a great president and a great American. He had a view of our nation based on what he believed was the hopes and dreams of our founders. In his famous speech from 1974 entitled: A City on a Hill, he reminded those listening of our nation's connection to Almighty God, "Standing on the tiny deck of the Arabella in 1630 off the Massachusetts coast, John Winthrop said, 'We will be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world.' Well, we have not dealt falsely with our God, even if He is temporarily suspended from the classroom.", and closed with these great words: "We cannot escape our destiny, nor should we try to do so. The leadership of the free world was thrust upon us two centuries ago in that little hall of Philadelphia. In the days following World War II, when the economic strength and power of America was all that stood between the world and the return to the dark ages, Pope Pius XII said, “The American people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish actions. Into the hands of America God has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind.” We are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth." 
I know there are many who detest President Reagan and his time in office. That too is a part of the American context. He had his flaws and many of the criticisms of his decision making is warranted. However, he was a man, first and foremost, who embodied the American ideals of integrity and character. Not perfect. Much has been learned about him after he left office and after his death. It has been learned that he was a man that was a whole lot more intelligent than he was ever given credit for. This has been gleaned from his personal handwritten journals and notes. He was also a man of deep religious conviction. Today throughout the world there are millions who are no longer under the domination of communism because of President Reagan's unwavering stand for freedom for all people, everywhere. Sadly, many of these freedoms have been eroded over the past several years. In some cases, people have won against dictatorship only to be re-enslaved by a form of religious totalitarionism. As we see what is happening on the 24x7 news cycle it presents the question: Where is the leader of the free world who is willing to call enslavement of any kind...evil? President Reagan had no problem calling evil evil. He was ridiculed and called a war monger but in the end....the wall came down. The evil empire was dismantled and I, for one, say thanks be to God for giving us leaders like Ronald Reagan.
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