Stories and other stuff

 I've been considering for a while now just how amazing God is and how God moves in my life in ways that just leave me gobsmacked.  When I was walking down the street in Chicago by myself a couple of weeks ago, I got a little word from God about something He wanted me to do. This particular thing came to pass today.  He told me what He wanted me to do, and then it came to pass that the opportunity presented itself and I did it. I'm working on a sermon I've had an idea for going on for about a month or so now.  I was concerned that the next opportunity to speak at a church might not be the right venue for the message, so God in his Providence provided me a different audience who this message might work for. You just never know what will happen when you say yes to God.

 Tomorrow is Independence Day.  It's the day we celebrate the birthplace of the idea of the United States of America.  Constitution Day comes later this year.  On the 4th, we celebrate the document signed that signified that Americans wanted to be a free people, under self-rule and free from the tyranny of their king. In the opening salvo of the document, they clearly point out that the rights they believe all men should have are given by their Creator.  According to the law of non-contradiction, the truths they hold to be "self-evident" (great words, are they not?) about how the Creator of the Universe blessed them with being created equal, says that for these words to be actually true, the Creator must be.  He cannot not be and have the Declaration of Independence be a truthful document. Our freedoms in America hinge on that document.  The people then fought a war over it.  We've been fighting wars ever since to keep and protect those freedoms....