An oddity

4:56 p.m. Today's project was for Steve and me to prepare an early afternoon barbeque with my dad and our grandsons, Adrian and Xavier. Daddy had pledged to bring the corn on the cob, which he boasted he had gotten "5 for a dollar" at his local Staters in Mentone. (I've actually seen it "8 for a dollar" at Ralphs but no big deal--to us it was free!)

As Daddy and Steve shucked the corn, the above-pictured oddity appeared: a perfectly formed ear of corn with a second tiny, pale green one growing out of the stalk along with it! We've all been eating corn on the cob for decades, but this was a first. I wish I could claim it had come out of my garden, but there are no ears on my cornstalks yet! Doesn't God always have something incredible in mind for us to be amazed by?

"Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?" God says to Israel of their future redemption in Isaiah 43:19. Yes, God is never out of ideas or methods to lead, guide, comfort, bless and thrill His people, today as in the past, and on into the future as long as He allows His world to exist!

God was doing a new thing, creating a real "oddity" when the founders of this nation decided to form a "more perfect union" in the words of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address. On July 4, 1776, our Declaration of Independence from England, after years of petitioning King George for redress of grievances, was written and signed by men who pledged "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor." The United States of America was born!

The colonists' desire for freedom went back a century and a half, however, to the Pilgrims' brave voyage to the shores of what is now Massachusetts in 1620, in search of a land where they could worship Christ freely. The Mayflower Compact makes abundantly clear Whom they came to worship, and Whom they would forever thank and praise for their lives in the new Plymouth Colony.

Our pastor pointed out this morning that only the United States and Israel were founded on faith in God, and for the purpose of bringing others to know Him! Look at the promises God made to Israel in Isaiah 44:3-4:

I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring. They will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses.

Israel today is the "fruit basket of the world," with a powerful military and government. But would not the above verses apply to the United States? Never in history has a more God-fearing nation existed! Never has a more wealthy, generous, united, powerful and inventive people walked the earth! Never has such opportunity for so many, of all races, nationalities and cultures been known! Our is a Christian nation, and God has blessed us abundantly. In fact, when I was a little girl, I used to think how lucky I was to be born an American, and I think that way today still!

Yet look at these two nations: Israel is under attack from all of the surrounding nations, denounced regularly by the entire community of godless countries. And the United States is wickedly tearing itself apart from within! The current administration's Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is on record saying she does not believe in Natural Law, the inalienable rights given to man by our Creator, as stated in the Declaration of Independence! Sadly, whether because of intellectual laziness, cowardice of the opposing party, or sheer wickedness of those who want the founding principles of our nation destroyed, this person who has never even been a judge, will be confirmed by the Senate as a justice in the highest court in the land! Let not born again believers expect understanding or justice from this newest member of the Court!

The current state of our nation in the hands of liberal activists reminds me of Proverbs 14:1: "The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her hands."

God brought our unique nation into being, a beacon of hope to the entire world. But if we walk away from His word and His righteous ways, we will become, at least in our government and culture, what President Barak Obama says is "no longer a Christian nation."

Woe to us!