Fire Away!

Sorry I’ve been kind of spotty with my writing these past few days, but I’ve been busy; oh so busy! I’ve been working two jobs, and have been enjoying Fourth of July festivities when work is over. Yay!

Yesterday Arlen and I went with his family to the symphony that was playing for the big celebration here in our home town. (I know, they were a day early.) I was proud to see that my nephew is officially unafraid of me now. He was terrified of my big wedding dress and hasn’t really been comfortable around me ever since. Yesterday, however, he treated me just like he did before the scary white monster appeared.

The Fourth of July has always been kind of a funny holiday to me. People drive from various distances to a very crowded spot to stay up late and watch big, colorful fireworks explode. There is an Adventures in Odyssey episode called “By Dawn’s Early Light.” It’s about the American Revolution and the birth of our national anthem. It’s actually one of my favorite episodes. You see, it gives me a better mental picture of what was going on in the time of our country’s birth. As Francis Scott Key sat aboard the ship, watching the bombing of Fort McHenry, the only way he could tell how his fellow Americans were doing was by the state of the flag. If the flag was still raised high, the men were still fighting. If the flag was lowered, they had surrendered and lost the battle. The only way he could tell the condition of the flag was by the bursts of the cannon shells in the air.

Today I was thinking, and I realized that it is much the same way with us. We are in the midst of a spiritual warfare, and we have a choice to make. When the shelling gets too hard to bare, we have two options. The first is that we can lower our flag, retreat, and surrender. The second is to keep our flags high, no matter how tattered and torn it becomes. Exodus 14 recounts the parting of the red sea. The Israelites were terrified. They were sure they were done for and that there was nothing they could do about it. Yet, tucked away in this exciting chapter, there is a small verse, a small verse which speaks volumes. In verse 14, Moses tells the people, “God will fight for you, you need only to be still.” That’s the key. When the fighting gets so bad we can’t take it anymore, we must not surrender and forfeit our loyalty to the cross. We must pray, we must cry out to the Lord, and we must let Him fight for us. I pray that God will give me the strength to hold my banner high, even when the going gets tough!