The Thursday Update

Lakeshore Friends—

On Saturday, our amazing nation turns 250 years old!  With the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we had declared what turned out to be the birth certificate of the United States of America.  It was a grand experiment in a form of government and democracy that had never been tried before.

Today, our nation is in many ways, the envy of the world.  Just ask all the World Cup Soccer Tournament visitors here from Europe, Central and South America who say that our country is so much better than they thought or that they were told it was.

Think about our country this way: no country has ever done more good for more people in the world than the United States has.  No country has ever had such massive military power and not used it to take over the world.  No country has brought more innovation and inventions to benefit the entire world as we have.  And no nation has sent more missionaries to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with more people and nations than ours has.

Admittedly, we have not been a perfect nation.  Our founding was marred by slavery, but sadly so was virtually every other nation in the world at that time (and many nations today still practice some form of slavery).  And today, our nation is slipping further and further away from God in how we live, how we think, and what we believe about God and the Bible.  But nonetheless, we are still free to live out our faith and declare biblical truth without breaking the law… at least for now.

Sadly, many people in our country don’t really seem to like America.  Some of our citizens say that they hate it.  They really have no idea what living almost anywhere else is like compared to living here. 

Maybe these people can trade places with some of the visitors to the World Cup who love it here?

I hope you will thank God for our country this July 4^th and every day.  We are blessed way more than we deserve!

And I hope you will be here on Sunday as I share a special message, “Is America A Christian Nation?”  This will be a great Sunday to invite friends and family to join you!

Happy Independence Day!

Vince