I love music.  Dearly.  My own personal preference has always been rooted in country and then through my Christian journey naturally morphed into southern gospel.  After spending almost 2 decades wandering in the wilderness, a major contributing factor in my coming to my senses (fancy way of saying I know what “when he came to himself” means in reference to the prodigal) was the emergence of the Gaither video series.  I caught a Gaither replay largely by accident while surfing with my TV remote and tears flowed.  I am sure I will at some time go into greater details of this but for now, on this holiday weekend, I am reminded of an old Cathedrals song that the Vocal Band redid and it became one of my favorite songs.

Of course, any song that features David Phelps hitting notes in the ozone layer is an enjoyable song but the message here is outstanding and of constant need.  Almost on a daily basis now we are seeing our freedoms placed in danger.  People want to be free.

Deep within the heart has always known that there was freedom
Somehow breathed into the very soul alive
The prisoner, the powerless, the saved have always known it
There’s something that keeps reaching for the sky

Even life begins because a baby fights for freedom
And songs we love to sing have freedom’s theme
Some have walked through fire and flood to find a place of freedom
And some faced hell itself for freedom’s dream

Let freedom ring wherever minds know what it means to be in chains
Let freedom ring wherever hearts know pain
Let freedom echo through the lonely streets where prisons have no key
We can be free and we can sing — let freedom ring

God built freedom into every fiber of creation
And He meant for us to all be free and whole
When my Lord bought freedom with the blood of His redemption
His cross stamped pardon on my very soul

I’ll sing it out with every breath, I’ll let the whole world hear it
This hallelujah anthem of the free
That iron bars and heavy chains can never hold us captive
The Son has made us free and free indeed

Let freedom ring down through the ages from a hill called Calvary
Let freedom ring wherever hearts know pain
Let freedom echo through the lonely streets where prisons have no key
You can be free and you can sing let freedom ring
Let freedom echo through the lonely streets where prisons have no key
You can be free and you can sing let freedom ring
You can be free and you can sing — let freedom ring — let freedom ring

-Gaither Vocal Band

As much as we feel our freedoms are being eroded, the one thing Obama, Pelosi, Chavez, and Castro can’t take away is the freedom from eternal damnation we are given by placing our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.  That is a perspective that trumps the worst that those who would deny individual and governmental freedoms can offer.  This gives a modicum of comfort in a week where we have seen the deaths of several celebrities, the death of a great football player, Sarah Plain leaving the governorship of Alaska,  and a country refusing to allow a leftist Chavez crony to walk all over their constitution.  The freedom that trust in Christ provides brings an ultimate liberation in a trying world.

Other good weekend posts from around the web…

The Hate That Knows No Bounds

In all my years here in the blogosphere I have seen some serious hate from the left, but nothing comes close to the hatred and vile that spews forth when it comes to Sarah Palin.

Some Thoughts On Sarah Palin (Wizbang) – I agree somewhat with William Jacobson that much of what drives the hatred of Sarah Palin is her son Trig. Trig Palin is, to put it bluntly, a living and breathing indictment of the abortion industry that simply will not go away. …

Sarah Palin Not Subject of FBI Investigation (Wizbang) – If Sarah Palin had aborted Trig, the left would have been okay with it. If she hid Trig offstage and out of sight, all would be good. But treat the child as you would any other child, and that cannot be tolerated. …

The Violence Worker!: Sarah Palin – Once it became clear to most that Trig was Sarah’s baby, most moved on to denounce her for either not aborting the little monster now in her care or for being a working mother. “How could she care for her children with a full time job? …

Tags: christian journey, freedom, Christ, Jesus

I was recently driving home from the office and was listening to one of my favorite talk show hosts.  This happened just a couple of days after the murder of George Tiller and, of course, the host was deriding someone going to the length of murder to support their position.

Accurately, in my opinion, he made the point that you should not forsake the law to try to achieve change, but rather change the law.  I have no argument with that precept in any way.  To allow for vigilante justice, especially when the recipient (in this case, Tiller) is not breaking the laws of the land (whether the law is heartbreaking and evil or not), ultimately leads straight to anarchy.  Some may say that anarchy might be preferable to the Obama administration but that is a thought for another day.

He then started to take questions and comments from callers and one guy totally floored me.  He made it clear from the very beginning that he had no axe to grind.  He had no horse in this race.  Abortion was a non-issue to him and he did not recognize himself as either pro-life or pro-choice.  He then posed this question.  If one believes that abortion is murder, and that life begins at conception, just how far should one go to protect the lives of those children?  He followed that with the dagger to the heart:

“If you saw a guy walk into a daycare center with a baseball bat and start bashing kids in the head, would you stop him?  How far would you go to stop him?  If you saw someone walking around a school cafeteria and emptying vials of poison into the kid’s drinks, how far would go to stop him?”

1.  At what point does “2 wrongs don’t make a right” become just another lame cliche?

2.  Since life begins at conception, are we taking OUR reponsibilities as Christians, humans, and Americans seriously enough that we are willing to take every LEGAL step available to us to put a stop to this ongoing legalized genocide?

Today, IN AMERICA, in honor of George Tiller:

Come and get it:  Free Abortions

How far is too far?

If you knew that YOUR children were in imminent danger of death, to what lengths would you go to protect and defend them?

More info on the Philly free abortion tradedy from around the web…

Free abortions to honor George Tiller – Reformed Chicks Blabbing – An abortionist is gunned down in his church by a fanatic and to honor him the Philadelphia Women’s Center offered free abortions. Amazing. What price do we put on human life? Free. Tiller’s legacy continues to be death: The Philadelphia … Abortion business gives away free abortions in honor of George … – An abortion business in Pennsylvania is drawing criticism or giving away free abortions on Tuesday in honor of slain late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller. The Philadelphia Women’s Center said the free abortions were meant to … The Conservative Mama: In Honor of the Great Dr. Tiller…FREE … – The Philly Abortion Giveaway by Jillian Bandes The Philadelphia Women’s Center gave away free abortions Tuesday in honor of Dr. George Tiller, the abortionist who was murdered last week by an anti-abortion extremist. … Philly Abortion Giveaways In Honor of Tiller – The Philadelphia Women’s Center gave away free abortions on Tuesday as a means of “honoring” slain late-term abortionist George Tiller. The abortion clinic told the media that an unspecified number of abortions were done free of charge. …

Tags: talk show hosts, murder, school cafeteria, Sarah Palin, life begins at conception, favorite talk show