Devotion 4: My Small Price for Freedom

Isaiah 9: 8
8 The fishermen will groan and lament, all who cast hooks into the Nile; those who throw nets on the water will pine away.

OK, I couldn’t resist –it’s close to Tax Day here in the old U.S.A. and my annual tax payment is well within the loving arms of my Uncle Sam. And like all the other fishermen I know I’ve been groaning and lamenting since the first of the year as all the important tax documents show up in the mail. We groan on the stream and lament at the lunch table – but we still render unto Caesar what is Caesars - some years more than others (no new bamboo rod this year). But, what a great country – faults and all – where we can worship without fear whenever, where-ever we want. We can sing at the top of our lungs or sit reverently in silence in our churches without fear of arrest, persecution or even death. We can celebrate Easter and Christmas and get as silly as we want to. And we can do all this right out in the open. A lot of people paid high prices for our right to worship this way - people from the beginning of this nation to our soldiers today. And a lot of people across the earth are still paying high prices for their right to worship. The least I can do is write a check for my small portion of what it takes to keep the gears moving in this great old Nation of ours.

Maybe I didn’t need that new “Boo” as much as I thought.

Prayer: Lord - Help me be a great Christian citizen. Guide and protect our leaders and bless them with discernment each and every day. Also, please remember those across the earth that have to worship you in darkness and fear, bless and protect them.