Ah, the fourth. On a calendar, it would just be the fourth day of the month. There are twelve of them each year, pretty insignificant. But this fourth has special meaning because it deals with something significant, something greater than just the day of the month between the third and the fifth. This fourth is special.
It deals with freedom, something we all want. We want the freedom to do what we want. Freedom to go where we choose to. Freedom to be free. Freedom to choose one of the 737 different kinds of cereal there are in the breakfast aisle of the grocery store. Ok, maybe we could do with fewer choices of what to eat for breakfast. But, we do like our freedom.
To me, the fourth is a day I celebrate every year. Some may not see it as special as others. I guess Paul deals with this in his letter to the Romans, so maybe it is a personal decision that should not be looked down upon by others. I personally don’t go overboard but do celebrate it with Holly.
I would never have thought November fourth would become such a significant day, but it has. For over thirty-eight years now I have remembered it and in my quiet little way, I have celebrated it. Some have a different day, I know to Holly it is the twelfth, and it just so happens to be the same month. Her celebration has been going on about ten years longer than mine. The twelfth of November and the fourth of November are dates that will always be remembered in our household.
It was on that night almost forty years ago that freedom was obtained. It was in the evening on a Thursday night and I remember the college students gathered around, though at the time, I knew very few of them. They had gathered after a series of phone calls informing them a celebration was about to happen. They had stopped what they were doing to come to celebrate with me the freedom I was obtaining in Christ. The freedom received as my sins were washed away in the water of the church baptistry.
This weekend there will be a lot of celebrating. Fireworks will go off, gatherings will happen. Picnics will take place, weather permitting, and some even get a day off work to celebrate. Parades are slowly coming back as we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence by our forefathers in this country. A day, as a country, we remember and we celebrate.
In the midst of this celebrating, this remembering, reflect on our greater freedom. The freedom that was achieved when our Savior hung on that cross. The freedom that was realized when you accepted His grace and were baptized. A celebration that will carry on long past the ones that we enjoy this weekend.
Celebrating the Fourth,
Randy