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07-08-03 - "For You and Me" "Be not afraid, 0 land; be glad and rejoice. Surely the Lord has done great things." - JOEL 2:21 Ever heard of a woman named Janina Atkins? As a Polish immigrant she came to America with $2.60 in her purse, a few clothes, old letters, and books. She loved it here because she could buy a needle at the nearest store and didn't have to stand in line for food; her mail wasn't censored and her phone wasn't tapped. She was free. Ever heard of Emma Lazarus? At the age of thirty-four this Jewish poet wrote a sonnet called "The New Colossus." It is inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! Ever heard of Geraldine Ferraro? She was the first woman to run for Vice President. She said, "If you take advantage of everything America has to offer, there's nothing you can't accomplish." It's a free country. Ever heard of Christa McAuliffe? As a social studies teacher she was selected by NASA to be the first private citizen in space ... an ordinary woman on an extraordinary mission. When Challenger exploded, her freedom took her into eternity. "This land is your land, this land is my land," Woody Guthrie's song tells us. This land was made for you and me. We can be anything we want to be. By the power of God the sky's the limit. Don't wait to enjoy your liberty. It is yours today. Remember Galatians 5:1- "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free." Dear Lord, this is the day you have made. Help me enjoy it freely and pass my personal sense of liberty on to someone else. Amen. |