Wednesday, July 17, 2002
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Wednesday, July 17, 2002 |
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God has truly smiled on America By JOHN HATCHER In the last three weeks, I have been a passenger in planes which have landed on various runways in Africa, Europe, and the United States. The landing, for the most part, was uneventful except the one time we landed at the John F. Kennedy Airport, having made our way over the big drink (Atlantic Ocean). With the airplane filled mostly with Europeans, as the airplane landed in New York City a la U.S.A. the passengers broke out in applause. It made sense; they had landed many for the first time in the greatest country on the planet. Why not applause! As we watch news reports from around the world, we get a skewed impression of what others think of our great country. We see their demonstrations against our President and often times against our way of life. But, when it all comes down to a landing on our soil, they get very excited and reveal that they deeply admire the United States. And why not? We have the greatest country in the world. We are, alone, the only remaining world power. Not because of our strength but because of our virtue. We are the world's greatest economic power. Not because of our greed but because of our generosity. We are the world's oldest ever democracy. Not because the majority rules, but because we listen to the minorities. I visited a country Uganda that was granted its independence in 1961. Most Ugandans who remember that year recall it as the day everything started going down. When Great Britain took its hands off Uganda and similarly other African nations ruthless dictators came in and took control and raped the countries, crippling infrastructures and a people's desire to achieve. Only in the last several years under elections-friendly leaders has Uganda begun to recover with a sense of hope. But, my point is that when you and others want to run down our country, I suggest you buy a ticket to a third world country, even a second world country. I suggest you drive up and buy a tank of gas and learn how inexpensive gas is in the United States of America. I suggest you try to find the diversity on foreign soil that is available to us here in America. A diversity we take for granted. My daughter learned the cuisine situation is markedly different in a foreign country. No longer could she find a variety of Chinese, Mexican, and Italian restaurants. She discovered fast food really isn't fast over there. She discovered more than anything else that she has no room to complain about most anything as she lives out her life in the United States of America. My daughter, Anna, and I celebrated July 4 in Uganda. Only the American Embassy threw a party that night. However, there, some 8,000 miles from home, we realized how blessed we are in our great land. We have a church and bank on every block. No lines forming at either. There, you have to stand in line at length to see a bank teller and many churches are packed to capacity. I suppose that's good news. The truth is that they need more churches. Why? Why is America so great? Not the economy, stupid! No, America is great because God has smiled us and many undeserving ways. Our question should be: how should we behave to continue receiving God's manifold blessings?
The Rev. Dr. John Hatcher is pastor of River's Edge Community
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