Happy Independence Day: may true freedom ring

In the days leading up to Independence Day, on the heels of Juneteenth and our trip to England, I have been more thoughtful this year. 

My formative memories took place in Germany, where I grew up an Army brat in the 80s. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” was a much bigger deal in my world than the Challenger explosion. Army green, yellow ribbons, and red, white and blue colored my world, and I would run around with my brother and the other Army brats until the streetlights came on. In every literal way my dad kept me safe. And at an American church in Nuremberg, Germany I attended VBS and first learned that yes, Jesus loves me; Jesus loves the little children of the world. 

I don’t know that there is anything that I would change about my childhood (although adolescent angst seems universal no matter how idyllic the circumstances). I was an innocent, and probably charmed. I was well traveled by the time I hit my teens; I had an Army dad, a devoted mom, and an American passport. (I do not take the privilege that comes with any of that lightly. I can add to that list an American education, and a middle-class lifestyle. I was struck while I shopped for July 4th cookout supplies at Walmart, surrounded by enough options and opulence at my hands to feed and outfit any number of villages.) 

Ironically the world is even smaller today than it was back then. I’ve taken my girls to see the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas (yes, we ruined it for them), Washington D.C., Niagara Falls and Toronto—arguably one of the most diverse cities in the world. And as a family we helped build a home for a family in Ensenada, Mexico, and we met and served refugees in England from Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, and beyond. 

I can attest, our rich white founding fathers did a pretty incredible job with what they knew, though it took nearly 100 years for freedom to be granted to all Americans. But from the start, and in the 150 years since the original Juneteenth, we keep moving toward freedom. We are no longer the America of 1776, nor of 1865, nor even of my childhood. And our children will make America different yet again. God, help them! God, bless them!

Yet in 1776 we were founded one nation under God, and in 2024 we are still one nation under God. We always will be, because no matter how great or turbulent a nation, we are all of us under God.

Americans enjoy tremendous freedom, maybe more freedom than anyone else in the world. That also means freedom to make mistakes, and freedom to get it wrong, and freedom to try again. I remain aware that my privilege grants me maybe even more freedoms than other Americans. But I love and am grateful for and loyal to my nation! 

But the truth is, it is the freedom my soul experiences through Christ – freedom to approach the throne of God Almighty, freedom to ask forgiveness when I mess up, freedom to come back to him again, and again, freedom not to have to hide — that is the truest form of freedom, and the freedom that crosses boundaries of nations, and race, and economics is for all people. 

So on this July 4th, I thank God for my family, and my nationality and my passport, and I pray God bless America, and especially our political machine. I thank God that we continue to move toward freedom, but most of all I thank God that true freedom comes from Him.