July 4th is probably one of my favorite holidays. There are tons of fireworks (unless you live in a state/county/city where there is a fireworks ban). Summer is just getting into full-swing. The weather is hot, pools are open, and the thunderstorms are big (I love thunderstorms of the non-tornado variety). Every year, though, I tend to forget what we, as Americans, are really celebrating. It’s highly possible that the only reason I’m thinking about it this year is, because, for the first time since I can remember, I have no definite plans for the day. It also could have a lot to do with the fact that I just watched Flags of Our Fathers (based on the book by James Bradley and Ron Powers), and recently finished re-watching the HBO mini-series, Band of Brothers (based on the book by Stephen Ambrose), putting me in a patriotic mood.

Regardless of the inspiration behind the introspection, the question still remains… do we, the American people, ever really stop to think about what this day, July 4th, “Independence Day,” really means? Obviously the short answer is yes, because it just so happens that this holiday is aptly named for it’s meaning. On Independence Day, we celebrate independence. Sure, we all know what we’re celebrating, but do we realize why? Do we think about the bravery, the audacity, the brilliance, and the forward-thinking of the 56 men of the Second Continental Congress (many of whom went on to become the framers of our Constitution)?

The men of the Second Continental Congress saw the many wrongs of Great Britain’s King George III, and they offered a resolution. They laid out the facts and they declared to the world, that the 13 United States of America not only wanted independence, but that they demanded independence.

While the Christian side of me would love to believe that this nation was founded as a Christian nation, that is most certainly not the case. To be honest, I’m thankful for that. I’m thankful that I have the freedom to practice, or not practice, any religion I choose. If this was a Christian nation, I don’t know that I’d like that fact that I was told what to believe (much like the Pilgrims). It’s the freedom to believe in God and Jesus – which, coincidentally, allows me the freedom I find in Christ — that makes my belief in God that much better. I believe in God and Jesus, because I choose to believe. And that might not have been possible today, if it weren’t for the Declaration of Independence.

So, as you shoot of your fireworks (where permitted of course, because you don’t want the fuzz knocking on your door), or watch your area’s big fireworks display, don’t forget about what you’ve been given. What you’ve been afforded, because 56 men thought it necessary to speak out against something that could have very well gotten them killed. I’ll leave you with some of the words of the rebels of the Second Continental Congress. You should, at some point, read the full transcript of the Declaration of Independence.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Tags: 4th of July, America, Declaration of Independence, fireworks, Independence Day, July 4th