As you may have noticed, I did not write a July blog. I went on a vacation and forgot! Prophecy Watchers [1] was holding a conference in Colorado Springs. Having grown up there, I took advantage of the opportunity to see some of my favorite speakers, in person while gazing at the mountains I had taken for granted as a child. My brother still lives there, so the best part was seeing him and sharing memories of our childhood. While our age difference created unique experiences growing up, we will always share one perspective – the majesty of the Rocky Mountains.
The view from Pikes Peak inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write her poem, America the Beautiful in 1893. Please take a moment to read this poem that became a popular patriotic hymn when combined with music composed by church organist Samuel A. Ward in 1910. [2]
America the Beautiful
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness.
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life.
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine.
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea. [3]
Tragically, the America that Katharine Lee Bates saw before her, and in her mind’s eye, is not the America we see today. While there remains much beauty, there is also much scarring; while our cities can gleam, the violence within them is shocking. Looking back at the sacrifices of our early veterans, our heroes, I imagine how they would be devastated. As 100-year-old WWII veteran U.S. Marine Carl Spurlin Dekel put it, "We haven’t got the country we had when I was raised, not at all… It’s just not the same and that’s not what our boys, that’s not what they died for." [4]
What happened? We turned our back on God. We stopped asking for His grace. Instead of asking for Him to mend our flaws, we found flaw (where there is none) in Him. Self-control and liberty became self-interest and agendas. As I have read in the Old Testament about the Israelites forsaking God, I have often wondered how they could do so after experiencing such blessings from Him. I have now witnessed my own country do the same.
Are we beyond hope? NO! While my soul is not at ease with the events happening in today’s news here and around the world, my soul does rest in my salvation through Jesus Christ. Does yours?
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” Titus 2:11-14.
I pray every reader knows the grace of God that appeared to offer salvation – Jesus Christ. I pray also for all the church to feel restlessness in their souls for His return. For it is when God’s people “feel” that they move; and when the church moves, God moves! Let us be a people that are His alone, eager to do what is right and what is good!
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