Practice what you preach

I am a people watcher. My wife and I care very deeply about the directions our society takes. This watching is not done from a vacuum or from an unfair critical position but from a perspective of love and the caring for the souls of mankind. It is a perspective that believes deeply in the dignity of man, and the worth of the individual. This perspective is spiritual in nature and formed in the Christian faith in its message here on earth that through Christ, you are loved, forgiven for the past, and somebody special.

If one seriously believes this, then they set about doing anything and everything they can to share this message with the world. Thus we have churches, speakers, articles, mission trips, literature, music, organizations — Christian and civic — and on and on.

Last night, Feb. 14, Dee and I attended a meeting of the Sons of the American Revolution in Fayetteville. At this meeting I was sworn in as a new member in the name of a blood relative by the name of Joseph Herndon. Joseph had been a private in the Colonial Army of the American Revolution. Had the American Revolution not gone the way it did, Joseph would have been hanged or shot as a traitor of the British Crown.

At the ceremony, I again pledged allegiance to my country, our Constitution, our flag, and our way of government. The pledge I, as a new member, made stated: “We descendants of the heroes of the American Revolution who, by their sacrifices, established the United States of America, reaffirm our faith in the principles of liberty and our Constitutional Republic, and solemnly pledge ourselves to defend them against every foe.”

I did not take this oath simply as a ceremonial rite of passage into an organization of a bunch of great guys. I took it as the way I feel deeply and have always felt. And if one takes this oath seriously, he or she will think differently, they will act differently, they will have a very, very different world view. And when they see their country and its citizens been led down a path of moral, spiritual and political decay, this “pledge” will kick in and you will do any and everything within your power to keep America on track.

After all, it is in the blood line to do so. Joseph Herndon would have had it no other way.

Long live America and her freedoms, both spiritually, and politically!