Subject: Proud, or thankful to be an American

THE LINE OF THE POPULAR SONG BY LEE GREENWOOD THAT SAYS, "I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN", HAS BEEN SUNG WITH MUCH EMOTION THROUGHOUT THIS COUNTRY IN THE PAST YEAR. WE SHOULD STAND WITH AND FOR OUR COUNTRY, BUT, WE NEED TO BE CAREFUL WITH THE MINDSET THAT CAN RESULT FROM THIS PRIDE.

"PRIDE GOETH BEFORE DESTRUCTION, AND A HAUGHTY SPIRIT BEFORE A FALL" (PROVERBS 16:18) IS A GOOD WARNING TO HEED. BESIDES THAT, WHAT ARE WE PROUD ABOUT? WHO CAUSED US TO BE AN AMERICANS? GOD'S WORD SAYS, "WHO MAKES YOU DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER, AND WHAT DO YOU HAVE THAT WASN'T GIVEN TO YOU?" (I CORINTHIANS 4:7) WE REALLY SHOULD BE THANKFUL THAT GOD ALLOWED US TO BE BORN IN, OR LIVE IN, THIS LAND OF THE FREE. IT'S A GIFT FROM HIM. WE SHOULD SAY, "THANK YOU, LORD."

OUR PRIDE ALWAYS FALLS , OR IS STRIPPED AWAY, WHEN CALAMITY STRIKES. WE CAN BE BETTER PREPARED BY, INSTEAD OF A PROUD MINDSET, HAVING THE MINDSET KING DAVID EVIDENCED WHEN HE SAID: "IF IT HAD NOT BEEN THE LORD WHO WAS ON OUR SIDE, WHEN MEN ROSE UP AGAINST US, THEN THEY WOULD HAVE SWALLOWED US ALIVE, WHEN THEIR WRATH WAS

KINDLED AGAINST US. (PSALM 124:2-3)

TAKE TIME TODAY TO SAY, "THANK YOU LORD, FOR MY COUNTRY. I ASK YOU TO PROTECT IT UNDER YOUR OVERSHADOWING WING. I CONFESS THAT IT'S YOUR POWER, NOT OURS, THAT HAS KEPT THIS LAND, AND FOR THIS I'M THANKFUL. I'M PROUD OF YOU, ALMIGHTY GOD!"

                                       Ben