Even More Thankful!

Living in America is, to me, in and of itself, plenty to be thankful for! The fact that Columbus set sail a half a millennia ago to discover a New World, where the gospel could be promoted and spread, set the stage for the greatness that would become America. Even his name ‘Christopher’ means Christ bearer.

And this Thanksgiving season we are truly beginning to see America becoming great again!

I saw a coffee mug on-line (which will be available soon at the Beacon office) that has the inscription; “The Best Part of Waking Up is Donald Trump is President”. A nice take, I thought, on the old coffee jingle many of us grew up with.

And while the message is somewhat glib and intentionally simplistic, it bears some truth as well.

It has been on my mind lately how similar Ronald Reagan’s popularity and ascendency to the presidency is to the steady and increasing love for this president.

Similar too were the circumstances when both came into office. In Reagan’s case we were crawling out of the Jimmy Carter “Malaise” full of defeat and despair. Not unlike the economic and social chaos that Barack Hussein Obama left in his wake. Never in my lifetime had I seen an America as divided as what Obama had set in motion. Racial tensions and class envy had been stirred up to a boiling point, and the whole take-a-knee when our national anthem was being presented was just a symptom of the seeds of division he had sown.

But Donald J. Trump, like Ronald Reagan before him, has struck a chord, like those played by Lee Greenwood in his ballad “Proud to be an American” that reached out and ignited the American spirit once more. Oh, I know, there are still those who aren’t proud, but the ones who are, are standing tall and not backing down. And they have a champion in the White House.

We can all be thankful; for the economy, the best in decades, for the low unemployment rate (especially among blacks and Hispanics), for the tax relief (with more to come) which has stimulated this economy, for the investment capital that has come home to our shores and reinvigorated our manufacturing sector, even to the extent of restoring our lost steel industry, for the end of the constant threat of ISIS and their surrogates, for the establishment of active diplomatic ties with North Korea and China, for shoring up our historic friendship with Israel and moving our embassy to Jerusalem, for the pushback on the pro-abortion industry and the exposure of the monstrosity of Planned Parenthood’s trafficking in dead babies, replacing that with the new Heartbeat legislation and a president who has placed constitutional judges on the U.S. Supreme Court, and all of this and more, in just his first two years in office.

Oh, we still have the radical progressive socialists in the Democrat Party, and their surrogates in Antifa and other radical fringe anarchists, and of course their willing accomplices in the media and entertainment industry, but they too, are starting to crumble. Just as in the Kavanaugh hearings, the election fraud and attempt to overturn the legitimate results of this November election are exposing these anti-American zealots for who they are. And intuitively Americans don’t like it. The Walk-Away movement is growing.

Americans are attracted to a positive message of “you can do it” and that we can still achieve greatness, individually, and as a nation, and aspire to enjoy the fullness of life that our unprecedented freedom and independence has fostered these past 238 years.

This Thanksgiving I am thankful especially for our family, both near and not as near, our five children and twelve grandchildren, aunts and uncles, cousins, and dear friends. They are the source of our joy, our hope, and our legacy. I am particularly thankful that my Aunt Susan made it out of the inferno in Paradise that destroyed her family’s house and the entire community they called home forty plus years. But she remains hopeful and thankful, what an inspiration!

I am personally thankful to have the opportunity to share some thoughts each week with you, that we may be an encouragement to one another, and spread the message of freedom far and wide and above all keep the torch of liberty alive for the generations to follow.

Wishing you a Great American Thanksgiving Celebration with your family and friends!