July 2, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Wednesday, July 2, and we continue with our four-part series of devotions leading to America’s birthday, the 4th of July. Thanks for joining us on this patriotic journey.
If “The Star Spangled Banner” is our national anthem, and “America, the Beautiful” and “My Country Tis of Thee “ are national hymns, then “God Bless America” could be described as our national chorus. Written by Irving Berlin during World War I, it gained huge popularity during World War II, and became a national comfort, a national inspiration, a national prayer. It was all of those things on the evening of September 11, 2001.
On that infamous day, four planes were hijacked by terrorists. Two were flown into the Twin Towers in New York. One was flown into the Pentagon. And one crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, brought down by a group of heroic passengers. Experts believe that that plane was on course to destroy the Capitol Building, the symbolic center of American government. That evening, as our country grieved, the members of Congress stood on the steps of the Capitol for a brief ceremony featuring a word from the Speaker of the House and a moment of silence to remember the lost.
And then something happened that was unscripted, unplanned, completely spontaneous. They began to sing. They stood there - Democrat next to Republican, conservative beside liberal. No parties, no partisanship, just people. One nation under God. And they began to sing. They sang these words.
God bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above
From the mountains to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home
God bless America, my home sweet home
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
