FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

Dear friends,
      Today is Independence Day. On July  4, 1776, the Patriots of the First Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence, creating a new nation, the "United States of America." Thousands of soldiers in the Continental Army died so that America could become a country where its citizens could live as free people.
      Since those days thousands more have died to allow us to remain free. Here is a poem by Kelly Strong that reminds that the freedom we enjoy has come at a high cost.         
                  "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE"
I watched the flag pass by one day. It fluttered in the breeze.          
A young Marine saluted it, and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform, so young, so tall, so proud.
With hair cut square and eyes alert, he'd stand out in a crowd.
 
I thought how many men like him had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil, how many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down? How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves? No, freedom isn't free!
 
I heard the sound of Taps one night, when everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play and felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times that Taps had meant 'Amen.'
When a flag had draped a coffin of a brother or a friend.
         
I thought of all the children, of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands with interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard at the bottom of the sea;
Of unmarked graves in Arlington. No, freedom isn't free!

Let us daily give thanks for the freedom we enjoy in our nation. And may God bless our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine, and all the men and women of all law enforcement agencies who daily put their lives on the line to protect our freedom and safety. Because of their sacrifices we can celebrate this 4th of July in peace and security. Let us strive always to remember that "Freedom Isn't Free!"

Rev. Bob Tasler
www.bobtasler.com