Finding God in the midst of tragedies

We are aware that God is everywhere no matter how terrible the environment has become. One month ago, June 6, 2024, we remembered that same day 80 years ago when D-Day was won in France. How many men were killed by enemy fire is staggering, yet God had to be there. As each bullet or shrapnel found its way to an American soldier or marine as they arrived on the shores God was there to bring that fighter for freedom home. This may be a terrible reminder of what it takes to find justice and praise the spirit of patriots willing to give their lives for you and me. Today, we again show our colors as July 4th reminds us as a nation we still remember June 6, 1944, December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001. In all of these mishaps from enemies to America, God was with us.

I remember at the age of 6 while attending grammar school and standing with my fellow students, placing our right hand across our heart, and repeating the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. At that age we didn’t know completely what was happening in our world, but our parents related in some fashion what we were praying for. The presence of God stood beside us and the soldiers who were across the ocean fighting for peace.

Peace is not the absence of war, strife of any kind, or the ability to relax without injustice or tyranny. It is within the hearts of disciples of Christ who stood together 2,000 years ago on the hill called Golgotha. Has it taken another day in infamy for anyone of us to realize the status of hatred towards the reason God sent his Son to show us the Way, the Truth, and the Life for eternal excellence with our eternal God forever? (Jn 14: 6).

When each day finds us seeking peace as the promise of tragedy appears without any sense of ceasing, our outlook for a release from this nightmare seems to be the only means to escape the desires of an unseen enemy to hide from life’s hold on us.

Cook the hot dogs on the grill, open the bottles of beer or your favorite beverage, and wait til the sun sets to share with others the sounds and sights of “And the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night That our flag was still there” For a moment we can stand viewing the meaning of the freedom we still hold dear, if only for one more night.

If you are in a stadium or large area for cheering the events, once the brightness of the fireworks ceases the welcome lights come on to find the path out of the enclosure. Once our night of turmoil ends opening the clouds of doubt and despair there must be a light that guides our dismay into the light of God that is the only way to finding freedom and the peace that Christ promised through his passion.

Here is where our sense of following the Truth of Christ takes hold as we sing “O say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare and the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

That banner is God’s promise to be with us no matter how often or how intent an enemy is looking to destroy us. Praise God for our gift of July 4th.

Ralph B. Hathaway