I've given some serious thought lately to this whole concept of freedom, and then I came across the following article:
High atop the United States Capital dome in Washington stands the statue of the stately "Freedom Lady." Almost 20 feet high. Her face is framed by a crest of stars. A shield of stars and stripes is in her left hand.
The sculptured Freedom Lady was brought from Rome during a fierce storm and the captain ordered some cargo thrown overboard. The sailors wanted to include the heavy statue, but the captain refused, shouting above the wind, "No! Never! We'll flounder before we throw 'Freedom' away".
Just recently Marilyn and I met some former neighbors from the town we moved from. The husband was a war veteran, now eighty four years of age. It was hard not to catch his passion about how badly he felt about losing so many of his long time friends. With great pain in his voice he mentioned that there were only eight of his peers left in that town. It was so obvious from talking with him that he didn't want people to forget the price that was paid by courageous men and women, in order for us to live in freedom.
Thank you once again to all who had to be involved in making my freedom a possibility; no, make that a reality, through your wartime and post wartime experiences.
Then I was reminded of some Bible verses, where Jesus reminds us of a different kind of freedom, a spiritual freedom. His words are recorded in St. John's Gospel, chapter eight and verses 32 and 36. They read "All you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" and "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."
We have discovered how to be free from the fear of tomorrow, the guilt of the past, and a whole lot more freedoms. We would be thrilled to share these with you.
See you Sunday.
Pastor John Giesbrecht
