Volume IX, Issue XXI
The Story Behind the Photo
The photo above is one I took of the morning flag raising ceremony at Capon Springs, West Virginia. Every morning, when the resort is in operation, the owners will select a child to raise the flag. I readied myself on the third floor porch of the Annex building, which is now the main building since the Mountain House, which was much larger, burned in 1911. I must have been distracted somehow, but the child stepped up rather quickly to raise the flag. I literally shot the photo without thinking.
When I looked at the captured image, I saw the shaft of light. Then I was washed by a great flood of emotion as the light seemed to be as a message of comfort from the Divine. Indeed He hears our prayers for our beloved land. He cares for us. Don't give up. Fight the good fight. I offer you 2nd Chronicles 7:14:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
Yes, our problems are great... seemingly insurmountable, and yet I remember that band of men under George Washington at Valley Forge and the Battle of Trenton. The odds weren't so good then either. In 1985, Katharine Lee Bates visited Pike's Peak. It was an arduous journey but the sight of the great mountain stirred her to write this great love song... but it is more than a love song, it is a prayer. Read the verses we seldom sing and you will see her great prayer for this country.
America the Beautiful
Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Special Book Section
Two weeks ago we began the serial presentation of "Pontifus, The Bridge Builder's Tale in Three Parts." [1.] This week we present the third chapter of the first book: "Dinner Stop at the End of the World" below.
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