Are you in need of a Commercial Break. . .
We all seem to be scrambling for
THAT
Remote Control
(not of our TV’s)
of our lives
that’ll not fast forward us through the Commercial
to get back to our regular program
but actually
S T O P
The Regular Scheduled Program
to literally give us a much needed
b r e a k
and show us
give us
not what we need to buy
b u t
WHAT WE NEED TO HAVE
(and no, it’s not a Dodge Ram Truck)

After all of the
C L O C K S
have Ticked their
T O C K S
what we need is more than a program
or a commercial can promise or give
but just the same
the seeds to our fertile fields
can be found there
in the middle of both
on our
EIGHTH DAY. . .

. . .so before your HOUR GLASS
goes Sandless
c o n s i d e r
maybe not so much how you’d spend your
E I G H T H DAY
as how you’d
INVEST IT

Just don’t put that in
Your Field
and Plant it
. . .Harvest it
and take it to
MARKET
for the Farmer in all of us
. . .it just could be
The Commercial Break
needed from this
not-so-great-regular-program

No   doubt   there’s

N    O    T    H    I    N    G

Like   it,

but   being

A       C  A  R  I  N  G      C  A  T  A  L  Y  S  T

C          O          S          T          S

Yesterday, on the Fourth of July

millions across the Country  celebrated

Independence Day.       .       .

It probably went largely unnoticed

that  FREEDOM

isn’t   F R E E

In this world

S      O      M      E      O      N      E      S

truly  pay  the  price

for people to be free.        .       .

Doubt it?

Go back to the very signers of

The Declaration of Independence

ALL  56  of them

paid with what you can’t cash in a Check

I F 

they   won   the   war   with   the   British

there would still be years of hardship as a struggling nation.        .        .

If   they   lost

they would have faced a hangman’s noose.       .       .

and yet there it is where it says,

“WE    HEREWITH    PLEDGE   OUR   LIVES, OUR   FORTUNES,  AND   OUR    SACRED    HONOR.”

They signed it.        .        .

but do you know what price was paid for those very signatures?

The late, great Paul Harvey

in his broadcast on July 4, 1974 reminded us

That Carter Braxton, a wealthy planter and trader, after signing saw his ships swept from the seas to pay his debts.    .    .He lost his home and all of his property.  He died in rags

         *              *            *

That Thomas McKean of Delaware was so harassed by the enemy that he was forced to move his family five times in five months.     .     He served in Congress without pay–his family in poverty and in hiding

    *               *                *

That Thomas Nelson, Jr of Virginia raised $2 Million on his own signature for provision for our allies, the French Fleet.        .        .After the War he personally paid back the loans which wiped out his estate; he was never reimbursed by the government and he died bankrupt

  *                 *                *

That John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside while she was dying; his 13 children fled in all directions for their lives.     .     His fields and gristmill were laid waste and for more than a year he lived in forests and caves to only return home from the War to find his wife, dead, his children, gone, his properties, gone only himself to die a few weeks later of exhaustion and a broken heart  

*                  *                 *

Of all the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence

few were long to survive.          .          .

Five were captured by the British

and severely tortured before dying.          .          .

Twelve had their homes

from Rhode Island to Charleston

sacked and looted

occupied by the enemy

or burned.     .     .

Two of them

lost their sons in the Army

One had two sons captured.        .        .

Nine of the 56 died in the War

from its hardships or merciful bullets.       .       .

They had learned that liberty is so much more important

than security.       .       .

For   T H A T    they pledged their lives

their   fortunes

their   sacred   honor.          .          .

They  fulfilled  their  pledge

They  paid  the  price

   AND      FREEDOM      WAS      BORN

T       R       U       T       H :

I didn’t give that much thought

with the second helping of potato salad

the extra piece of apple pie

the barbecue

and certainly not during

The  Fireworks

b   u   t         w   h   y.        .        .

why not think

give second thought

that being a Caring Catalyst

especially then

or even at the very moment

doesn’t come with a cost.          .          .

that needs

P               A               Y               I               N               G

which    leads    to    the    ultimate    question

On the Fourth or the Fifth of July

or   E V E R:

Are    You    Willing    To    Pay    IT?

They   did.       .        .

D O    Y O U ?