July 05 Martha's Musings

This article will come out the day after the Fourth of July holiday. This year marks the 250th anniversary of America’s triumph over the British troops, thus earning those 13 colonies freedom from being under foreign rule. The rest of us just got accepted into this group when we received statehood status. We were not part of the initial skirmish, but we benefited from the results. I see a comparison here to Christ’s earthly mission. Jesus was a Jew, after all, but he came to earth specifically to preach to both groups of people – both Jews and Gentiles. That is because only the Jews are God’s Chosen People, but God wanted ALL to have the option of eternity. After all, He created EVERYONE – people of all different races. So, we were grafted into God’s group of those given the ability to attain salvation. We were not even alive when Jesus walked the earth, just like we were not there during the Revolutionary War. But we benefited from both, as we live in a free country, and can go to heaven and live with God. Our wonderful country gives us freedom of religion, which is certainly not available everywhere around the world. So, I hope that this Fourth of July, we all said “thank you” to our Heavenly Father for our many underserved blessings. Specifically, the gift of salvation and our American citizenship, both of which we inherited and did not earn on our own.

Blessings,
Martha Arizpe, St. John’s Prayer Team