God Bless America. Of Course.

Of course, we should pray for our country, asking God to bless all of our leaders and people.  I faithfully pray for our nation, the United States of America, our sweet land of liberty. My flag flew proudly yesterday, and as it does every national holiday. When I put it out, I am particularly mindful to pray. Having a father who served in the Pacific Theater and a son now serving, I have never taken for granted the words “home of brave, and the land of the free.” I am thankful for both.

But let’s be candid … not just America, right? Not just our nation, I hope.

It was 24+ years ago, several months after the 911 attack on our nation. You remember where you were as well, and what it did for your prayer life. When the US Naval Academy, where our child was a then a midshipman, immediately changed from wide open tourist destination to a heavily armed, barb wired military installation our prayers went to another level.

Six months later we were hosting in our home Dr. Ephraim Kato from East Lake Victoria, Tanzania, a Lutheran partner denomination of our Southern Ohio Synod.  After a couple of weeks with us, I had arranged for a medical equipment gift at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. (Bonus: Perfect a chance to connect with our son. Which we did, thankfully.)

You remember the blossoming of US flags, yellow ribbons, and God Bless America signs during that period, I’m sure. It was so gratifying to see them everywhere on our trip to DC. But at one point, Dr. Kato, who had been quiet asked if he could ask me a question. Of course.  “How many blessings do you want?  All of them?”   It was a question, not criticism. I learned only in the car that day of the 1998 attacks on our US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya (200 died, 4,000 wounded) and his Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (11 died, 85 wounded) by the same perpetrators of the attacks on our nation in 2001. Of those who killed, 56 were U.S. citizens. Dr. Kato was serving his residency in Dar es Salaam, and personally had treated casualties there. When he shared how fervently he had been praying for my nation since our attack, I nearly cried knowing I had not prayed for his. Ever.

God’s got the whole world’s in his hands. I’ve been singing that since I was a child.  And it’s true because it is God’s world. All of it, and all of us … “red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in God’s sight.” It’s a truth that, I confess, is too easy to forget.

Right now, I am praying for Prince of Peace’s Global Partner Team in Kenya, five members reaching out with the love of Christ at Grain of Rice Academy. From the pictures on our facebook page, it’s obvious from their smiles that Grain of Rice is reaching with love to them as well. They’ll be home next Monday and there will be a time to learn of their experience.

We have 13 global partners at Prince of Peace. We are personally connected to each of them. They get highlighted annually through our largest fundraisers, Closet Cause and Hoops for Haiti. But, just as we do so well with our Local Mission ingathering each month, we hope to keep introducing you to our partners each month, giving you opportunity as the Spirit moves you to ask God to bless them as well.

Because our God is the God of every nation, and every people, I believe we are in it together. I am comforted by the knowledge that “God so loved the world that God gave his only begotten son to die for US “ and I am so hopeful that can we pray our way into asking God to bless us all.

May God bless you too!

Pastor Jim Wilson