Thank God It's Friday: Thank God For Freedom

Tomorrow is July 4 - Independence Day. So today as I continue my Thank God It's Friday series, I must say "Thank God For Freedom." There are many things about the freedoms I possess here in tbe United States that I am thankful for.

I am thankful that my vote counts. Not everybody I voted for in the 2008 general elections won. Not everybody I voted for in the primaries before that won. But, I believe that the results of those elections were valid. I don't believe that anybody deliberately rigged the elections to get the result they wanted and I've never felt the need to protest in the streets because I didn't feel my vote counted. Yes, there are things here in the USA that aren't the way I'd like them to be but I know I have the freedom to speak up and protest as I feel appropriate. But the most important way I have my say is my vote. So, I cast my vote on election day and I am thankful that it counts.

I am thankful for the freedom to worship. In my lifetime, I have regularly attended Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Evangelical Free, and non-denominational churches. Nobody has ever tried to kill me because I switched from one church to another. Nobody has ever legislated and said that I must go to a certain type of church. Nobody (except for my parents as I was growing up, thanks!) has ever told me that I MUST go to church. My family and I go to a church that we have chosen and believe that God has led us to.

I'm thankful for God's Word. We read the Bible daily and in-house and on-line we have access to more different translations of the Bible than you can shake a stick at (not that I'm much of a stick shaker). When our senior pastor is preaching from the New American Standard translation, I've got that. When someone else is speaking from the NIV, I've got that. ESV, check. My younger son has NIrV. We've got KJV, NET, TEV and other sitting around the house. On-line there's great tools like BibleGateway and BlueLetterBible. I can read and study God's Word as much as I want.

I could go on and on, there are more freedoms we have in the USA that I am thankful for. But now I am "free" to go make breakfast and get ready to take the family to today's swim meet ;-)