Independence Day

[RevSmoke]

I am boycotting the "4th of July" this year as I have heard too many, "What are you eating on the 4th? Where are you going for your 4th? Did you get fireworks for the 4th? What will the weather be like on the 4th?

Anyway, I decided that this year, we will begin our day with our normal devotions (reading of Scripture, meditation upon God's Word, and prayer), but at some point in time before all the other stuff takes place, I'm going to read the Declaration of Independence to whoever I am gathered with.

I have done that a couple times in the past. For some reason this year, I think it even more important. Is it because my son will be gone to college and living independently in the fall, so I want him to have one last hearing of what a privilege it is to live in these United States? Is it because I think that too little is understood about the costs that were suffered so that we might be a nation independent of English rule? Or is it....?

Anyway, it has simply struck me this year that I should make a point of putting this historic celebration in proper perspective.

Along with the reading of the Declaration of Independence, I am going to read what is below, written by Chuck Norris.

God's blessings as you celebrate our nation's independence and the freedoms we enjoy, tomorrow.

(This is taken from
12 LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS ABOUT DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Exclusive: Chuck Norris reminds Americans of 'price our founders paid for our freedom'

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/12-little...8qtcvXpy9Cf.99

For a number of years, an e¬mail widely circulated with some history, some ¬legend and some falsehoods about what happened to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. But here’s the real scoop, as I detailed in my “Official Chuck Norris Fact Book,” where I also cite the sources. (I, Todd Jerabek, interject here. These things did not all happen as a result of their having signed the Declaration of Independence. They happened because with the signing, we went to war with Great Britain, and these are some of the casualties/costs of fighting a war for your independence on your own land.)

At least 12 signers had their homes and property taken, ransacked, occupied or burned. Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of William Ellery, George Clymer, Lyman Hall, George Walton, Button Gwinnett, Thomas Heyward Jr., Edward Rutledge and Arthur Middleton.

Robert Morris’ home was overtaken as well, and Philip Livingston lost several properties to the enemy. John Hart’s farm was looted, and he had to flee into hiding.

Francis Lewis had his home and property destroyed. The enemy then jailed his wife, and she was held for months before being exchanged for wives of British soldiers.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, lost his ships and cargo to the British navy.
Thomas McKean wrote to John Adams in 1777 that he was “hunted like a fox by the enemy, compelled to [move] my family five times in three months.”

Five signers were captured by the British as prisoners of war and had to endure deplorable conditions as such. One signer lost his son in the Revolutionary Army, and another had two sons captured.

On Nov. 30, 1776, one signer, Richard Stockton, a lawyer from Princeton and longtime friend of George Washington, was captured in the middle of the night by loyalists and jailed by the British. Stockton endured weeks and months of brutal treatment and starvation. When he was finally released, his health would never be the same. (Over the six years of war, more than 12,000 prisoners died in prisons compared to 4,435 soldiers who died in combat.)

And that’s just a sampling of what these men sacrificed, and why we honor what they did for us annually on Independence Day.

Happy birthday, America!

Let’s never forget the price our founders paid for our freedom.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/12-little...8qtcvXpy9Cf.99