Happy Independence Day!

Being the history nut that I am and especially given my love for Revolutionary War history, I wanted to give a timeline of the events leading to the Declaration of Independence.

1765-1775 -

• A series of taxes and acts instituted by the British government to help pay for the French and Indian War. The issue was not so much that the colonies were being taxed but they were being taxed without any representation in the government therefore, making colonists feel as if they were second class citizens without the full rights of those living in England even though many of them had direct British ancestors.
• Boston Massacre 1770, Boston Tea Party 1773.
• Continental Congress 1774, 1775, 1776 - discussions on how to respond to British encroachment in the affairs of the colonies, arguments over reconciliation
• 1774 - Declaration of Rights
• Battles of Lexington and Concord, April 1775
• 1775 - Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms
• 1775 - Falmouth, Massachusetts and Norfolk, Virginia destroyed by British war ships
• Olive Branch Petition, Jan 1776 - a petition of reconciliation with King George which was flatly rejected by the monarch
• Common Sense by Thomas Paine published the day after word of the King's rejection. Paine's sold 150,000 publications and countless others read it as well causing an already weakening sentiment for monarchical rule to almost disappear very quickly. He stated that the war and rebellion was not a revolt against taxation but a fight for the survival of liberty for future generations across the world.
• War campaign in Canada failed leaving many colonists to believe that the only way to win the war was with foreign assistance and the only way to gain help from other nations was by declaring independence from Britain.
• May 1776 - John Adams (who had been itching for independence for at least a year but had waited patiently for the right timing) introduced a resolution to Congress for states to terminate their colonial governments and adopt state constitutions. "Adams's resolution had driven a stake through the heart of the foes of independence everywhere. With considerable truth he could boast that his resolution had initiated 'the most important step that ever was taken in America.'"
• June 1776 - Richard Henry Lee presents a resolution to Congress to officially declare independence from Britain. Congress creates the Committee of Five (Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston.) to prepare a declaration of Independence. Adams chaired the committee, Jefferson was chosen to draft the document. Jefferson wrote the document in a few days time having already thought intensely about independence since the early 1770's. Also, by that time so much had been written in newspapers, books, pamphlets and by colonial assemblies, especially Virginia's Declaration of Rights, regarding independence, drafting the document proved relatively easy for Jefferson.
• The Declaration of Independence was presented to Congress by the Committee of Five on June 29, 1776
• July 1, 1776 Congress discussed independence and voted 9-2 in favor - New York abstained, Pennsylvania and South Carolina opposed, Delaware, tied. Official vote deferred until July 2
• July 2, 1776 - At the end of the day, independence was revisited, debated and the official vote taken - 12-0. New York still abstained.
• July 3 & 4 - the draft revised
• July 4 - The Declaration of Independence adopted in the evening, the last item of business for the day, almost as a side note.
• July 6- the document was published
• July 8 - "Independence was officially proclaimed at noon on July 8 before a crowd of thousands assembled outside the State House (in Philadelphia). Bells pealed all that day and night, Adams told a friend, and soldiers 'paraded on the common, and gave us the Fue de Joy, notwithstanding the scarcity of powder.'"
• July 10- General Washington read the Declaration to the Continental Army in New York City. That night some soldiers and citizens in New York City tore down and decapitated a statue of George III.

"Adams was cautiously exultant. He knew that independence would be accompanied by manifold hazards. He knew too that courage was required 'to ride in this Whirlwind.' Not only was victory not assured, but he trembled at the realization that 'mighty Revolutions... sett many violent Passions as Work.' The only certainty about America's future was its uncertainty. Yet his optimism surpassed his apprehension. From deep within his soul he truly believed that victory would be won, America's republican experiment would succeed, and that both his generation and posterity would benefit from what he and Congress had done. But Adams was also a hardheaded realist who knew full well that 'the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration' would be immense.'"

Quotes from Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson and the American Revolution by John Ferling.

You Are Not Your Own

Here is an excerpt from Oswald Chamber's "My Utmost for His Highest.," Nov. 1. It summarized a lot of what I 've been learning and wanted to share it with you. Blessings!

"Ye Are Not Your Own." 1 Cor. 6:19

"There is no such thing as a private life - 'a world within the world' - for a man or woman who is brought into fellowship with Jesus Christ's sufferings. God breaks up the private life of His saints, and makes it a thoroughfare for the world on the one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for ourselves, we are called into the fellowship of the gospel, and things happen which have nothing to do with us, God is getting us into fellowship with Himself. Let Him have His way; if you do not, instead of being of the slightest us to God in His redemptive work in the world, you will be a hindrance and a clog.

"The first thing God does with us is to get us based on rugged Reality until we do not care what becomes of us individually as long as He gets His way for the purpose of His redemption. Why shouldn't we go through heartbreaks? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us fall and collapse at the first grip of pain; we sit down on the threshold of God's purpose and die away of self-pity, and all so-called Christian sympathy will aid us to our death bed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, and says - 'Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine.' If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart."

Ransomed

I've been doing a study for some months now by Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC on the book of Mark. It is very in-depth and I have learned some really incredible things and been reminded of truths that have longed been tucked away. I've been meaning to post several blog entries regarding key concepts I've learned or reviewed that had some kind of new spark to them that I wanted to share. Hopefully I will get around to writing about those.

I thought I would get started by sharing what I was reading about today. It is a review of the basic gospel but it was so refreshing and I learned a thing or two. It is from Mark 10:45. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many." Jesus had just finished describing about his upcoming death to the disciples for the third time. They were still not getting it. They were still thinking of the Messiah as the one who would come to usher in the new kingdom, an earthly one, and they wanted a piece of the power and prestige as Jesus' right & left hand men. Jesus, in verse 45, is telling them that He first must come as the suffering servant referred to in Isaiah 53. So, Jesus had been telling them that He was going to suffer and die; now He is explaining why He must do so - as a ransom for many.

I've always thought of ransom meaning that someone has been kidnapped and someone else must pay a very large and unreasonable sum to release the captive. The one kidnapped is incapable of paying because they are held in captivity. However, upon further reading in this study, "ransom" actually meant in those days to purchase someone out of slavery and refers mainly to prisoners of war - to bring a prisoner of war who has been captured by the enemy out of his slavish captivity.

Here are some things to be gleaned from this verse - Mark 10:45.

1. Jesus could have come to be served. Jesus, the Messiah, "God with us" had every right to expect to be treated with honor and dignity and glory and with all the other rights and privileges afforded the King of kings. He came to build His kingdom and could have taken it and His glory by force at that time. Many expected that the Messiah would come to set them free from Roman "captivity." That is what the disciples were hanging onto. However, in actuality, He came to build His kingdom in a much different way than the way earthly kings bring glory to themselves. His was a plan of service.

2. We are enslaved by something that we need to be ransomed from- Not the "captivity" of the Romans over the Jewish people, but rather a captivity of our hearts. He wasn't concerned with political captivity. He was concerned about His creation's much longer standing spiritual captivity to sin, death & the Law. See Romans 3-6

3. There is a price for that penalty that must be paid in order to release slaves. Ransomed does not just mean that the person sneaks in at night and conducts the slaves to freedom, or creates an elaborate escape, or a battle plan; it specifically involves a price to be paid. (Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.") Jesus paid it all for us. We don't have to pay anything or do anything nor could we if we tried. Nothing we could pay or do would be enough.

4. This verse tells the sum of the price - Jesus' life! "...to give his life a ransom..." His enemy had taken His creation and enslaved them. He came to take them back by paying the ransom for sin with His own sacrificial death. A ransomer, who has much to give, experiences loss and poverty so that the slave, who has nothing, can be free. (II Cor. 5:21 "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.")

5. This word "ransom" implies that a new relationship is formed between the ransomed and the ransomer. If someone gave up all He had out of love for your sake, would you not give your all back to Him out of love and gratitude and serve Him willingly and joyfully and follow Him faithfully?

6. It assumes that there is real evil and real sin and real guilt and real divine justice. Jesus death is senseless unless we are truly in bondage & honestly in need of being ransomed. Modern people don't recognize the real problem & extent of evil & sin on a global and individual level and that justice must be honored. Ancient people had difficulty understanding the concept of a loving God that would come to make the perfect payment Himself. Instead they strove to appease a begrudged and capricious god or gods who could never be appeased.

There are many other words to describe the gospel - justified, made righteous, bought, reconciled, redeemed, propitiated, triumphed over, made new. However, it all involved some sort of substitution on the part of both man and God. Man tried to substitute himself for God, to be like God, to bring glory to himself - the essence of sin. However, God came and substituted Himself for man, dying man's death for us, accepting our penalty - the essence of salvation.

"God presented Him as a sacrifice...so as to be both Just and Justifier of those who believe." Romans 3: 25-26

This is a summary of the notes from the Tim Keller study with my thoughts thrown in here and there.

The Horse and His Boy

I just finished listening to The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis on CD while painting one of our guest bedrooms. What a great book! I have read it before a couple of times and again I was moved to tears by Aslan's protection, providence and will, a picture of Christ over our individual lives and His creation as a whole. I read that this book is about finding one's home. The two talking horses from Naria who were stolen and sold to the people of Calormen. They were free creatures in Narnia so life in Calormen was like slavery. They sought the opportunity to escape and find their way back home to Narnia. The two children who are with them and are a means for them to escape, have never been to Narnia but have their own cruel, slave-like situations they are trying to escape.

As the book is indeed about the journey to reach Narnia, the original home of the horses and the intended new home for the girl, Avaris, and the boy, Shasta, I think it is much more about the invisible hand that guides our lives and world events. One of the allies of Narnia is under siege by the Calormen, but Aslan has complete control. He had planned for many years how the kingdom would be saved, even by the most unlikely person who in the end turns out to be someone quite different than even this person thought he was. (You'll have to read it for yourself - I am not giving it all away!!!) His life was rough in the beginning but it was all for a purpose far greater than even himself.

We know God works all things out for good to those who love Him but I think often we may make that "good" too small. Surely God will bring good in our lives through whatever we go through in life but what if God has had it planned since creation to have a far greater purpose like the salvation of another person, or a whole family or even a whole people group? When we think of God's providence we must think much bigger than ourselves. I was listening to a sermon by John Piper (also while painting) the other day about Jesus building His church and it made me think about the Horse and His Boy. Jesus said, "Upon this rock I WILL build my church." It is not of matter of maybe it will be done. He WILL do it and oftentimes it might be through ways we could never have imagined, when it seems absolutely impossible. Though the Horse and His Boy is not about building the church it is about a kingdom that Aslan sought to protect and did it in a way that would seem unlikely and unimaginable. "His ways are not our ways."

Here is my favorite part of the book. Shasta had been separated from the group of warriors on the way to fight against the Calormen who were attacking the allies of Narnia. Shasta was lamenting over his bad luck throughout his whole life and feeling left out, left behind and lost.

"And being so very tired and having nothing inside him, he felt so sorry for himself that the tears rolled down his cheeks.

"What put a stop to all this was a sudden fright. Shasta discovered that someone or somebody was walking beside him. It was pitch dark and he could see nothing. And the Thing (or Person) was going so quietly that he could hardly hear any footfalls. What he could hear was his breathing. His invisible companion seemed to breath on a very large scale... and he had come to notice the breathing so gradually that he really had no idea how long it had been there...

"The Thing (or Person) went on beside him so very quietly that Shasta began to hope he had only imagined it. But just as he was becoming quite sure of it, there suddenly came a deep, rich sigh out of the darkness beside him. That couldn't be imagination! Anyway, he had felt the hot breath of that sigh on his chilly left hand...

His horse was unreliable to make a run for it "so he went on at a steady walking pace and the unseen companion walked and breathed beside him. At last he could bear it no longer."

"Who are you?" he said, scarcely above a whisper... "You're not -- not something dead, are you? Oh, I am the unluckiest person in the whole world!" Once more he felt the warm breath of the Thing on his hand and face. "There," it said, "that is not the breath of a ghost. Tell me your sorrows." He told him of his hard childhood and the rough journey thus far.

"I do not call you unfortunate," said the Large Voice. "Don't you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?" said Shasta. "There was only one lion," said the voice. "What on earth do you mean? I've just told you there were at least two the first night and --" ...

"I was the lion." I was the lion who forced you to join with Avaris. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you could reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, as child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight to receive you."

"Who are you?" asked Shasta. "Myself," said the voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook... Shasta no longer felt afraid that the Thing would harm him but "a new and different sort of trembling came over him. Yet he felt glad too."

A light came on them and revealed the Thing. "He turned and saw, pacing beside him, taller than the horse, a Lion...after one glance at the Lion's face he slipped out of the saddle and fell at its feet. He couldn't say anything but then he didn't want to say anything and he knew he needn't say anything. "

"The High King above all kings stooped toward him. Its mane, and some strange and solemn perfume that hung about the man, was all round him. ..." After a bit the Lion was gone and Shasta wondered if it was just a dream. "But it couldn't have been a dream for there in the grass before him he saw the deep, large print of the Lion's front right paw."

The Lion is padding by our side and He leaves his heavy footprints and His breath everywhere. Do we see the evidence? Do we look for it? He WILL do what He says He will do and it WILL be for His glory and our good.

John Adams

I have just finished, finally, the biography of John Adams by David McCullough for which McCullough won a Pulitzer Prize. I highly recommend this book! After reading a couple of other books on the American Revolution, I became intrigued with John Adams and decided to read more about him. Born in 1735, a native and life-long resident of Braintree/Quincy, Massachusetts, just 5 miles from Boston, Adams was a master of words, was highly educated, a graduate of Harvard and a lawyer, a thinker, and a political philosopher. His ideas are woven throughout the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. He collected books and read prolifically.

On the other hand, he loved farming, being outdoors, and enjoying nature on horse back or by walking from 5-10 miles a day, even 3 miles a day in his late 80’s. He had a great sense of humor but was prone to melancholy at times, although not surprisingly given the struggles in his life. He was highly opinionated and prided himself in his opinions, often quite stubbornly. And he dearly loved his wife, well documented by the thousands of letters that passed between them during their courtship and marriage.

In addition, he loved the Lord. He delighted in reading the Bible and worshiping on Sundays. He was mocked for his faith at times as President, especially when he called for a day of prayer and fasting with regard to the brewing unrest and uncertainty between France and the U.S. Adams was lauded all of his day for his consistent integrity and devotion to public and private virtue as pillars of democracy. He not only extoled the belief that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, he lived it out. He abhorred slavery and longed to see its end. He was one of the few original founding fathers who did not own slaves. He hired men out to work his farms instead. He was also financially wise and careful. Though he never considered himself a rich man, he was worth over $100,000 at the time of his death in 1826, at the age of 91.

His many accomplishments include service as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congress, nominated George Washington as Commander of the Continental Army, served on the Revolutionary War Board among many other boards, served as a diplomat to France and Holland during the war as well as minister (ambassador) to the Court of St. James, wrote the Massachusetts constitution (“the oldest functioning written constitution in the world” p. 225), the first Vice President of the United States for two terms under George Washington and the second President of the United States. As president, amidst great controversy and opposition from his own party and others, he managed to keep the country out of war with France. He is also advocated for decades the need to create a defense of “wooden walls,” a navy, and under his administration, the Department of the Navy was established.

However, he is most remembered for the part he played in our country’s independence. Thomas Jefferson should most definitely be remembered for his gifted contribution to Declaration of Independence, but don’t forget John Adams. Jefferson came into the circle of revolution and independence only months before that July of 1776; Adams had been speaking and writing about it passionately for years. He was fervently devoted to the Revolutionary Cause, independence, self-government and the republic and remained so until his death. It has been said that although Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, Adams was the voice for independence in his lengthy speeches and in his writings long before and up to the drafting of the Declaration. He was part of the “Committee of Five” chosen to draft the document. After discussing what would be put in the document, Jefferson was chosen to actually write it, undoubtedly for his undeniable talents with the quill. However, you’ll notice in the painting by John Trumball that depicted the signing of the Declaration, Adams is in the center, and I think, rightly so.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

“There is nothing I dread so much as a division of the Republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader and converting measures in opposition to each other...”The “turbulent maneuvers” of factions, he now wrote privately, could “tie the hands and destroy the influence” of every honest man with a desire to serve the public good. There was “division of sentiments over everything,” he told his son-in-law William Smith. “How few aim at the good of the whole, without aiming too much at the prosperity of the parts.” P 422.

So much had happened in John Adam’s life - he had done so much, taken such risks, given so much of himself heart and soul in the cause of his country - that he seems not to have viewed the presidency as an ultimate career objective or crowning life achievement. He was not one given to seeing life as a climb to the top of a ladder or mountain, but more as a journey or adventure, even a “kind of romance which a little embellished with fiction or exaggeration or only poetical ornament, would equal anything in the days of chivalry or knight errantry...” Pg. 476

About the French Revolution, Adams said, “Mankind will in time discover that unbridled majorities are as tyrannical and cruel as unlimited despots,” and he lamented that so much more blood would have to flow before the lesson was learned. P. 443-444

“There must be, however,” Adams responded, “more employment for the press in favor of the government than there has been, or the sour, angry, peevish, fretful, lying paragraphs which assail it on every side will make an impression on many weak and ignorant people.” P. 441

“Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially for the lower classes of people, are so extremely wise and useful that to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant.” Pg. 103

In correspondence to James Otis Warren on independence, Adams wrote, “All great changes are irksome to the human mind, especially those which are attended with great dangers and uncertain effects. No man living can foresee the consequences of such a measure...We may please ourselves with the prospect of free and popular governments. But there is great danger that those governments will not make us happy. God grant that they may. But I fear that in every assembly, members will obtain an influence by noise not sense. By meanness, not greatness. By ignorance, not learning. By contracted hearts, not large souls... There is one thing, my dear sir, that must be attempted and most sacredly observed or we are all undone. There must be decency and respect, and veneration introduced for persons of authority of every rank, or we are undone. In a popular government, this is our only way. P. 104

In a letter to his granddaughter in his last days he wrote, “The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know...Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. (Micah 6:8) This is enough... “

A Cup of Hot Tea

I just finished listening on CD to “Blue Shoes and Happiness” by Alexander McCall Smith. It is the 7th book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency about the “traditionally built” Mme Precious Ramotse who, after the death of her dear father, has opened the only detective agency in Botswana, southern Africa. Though the books have a slow pace, they are so pleasant to read because they represent, through her life, family and friends, the culture of Botswana and the issues that the people of Africa deal with like drought, famine, poverty, AIDS, witch-craft, etc, but not in a heavy way, just as a context or background in African life. Mme Ramotse loves her country and always speaks praises for the country’s first president, Seretse Khama. Even though she has her ‘busy’ times (definitely not comparable to anything we would call busy here), there is always time for cake with friends, conversations filled with bits of old Botswana wisdom, people-watching (she is a detective after all), talking about cattle and pumpkin-eating. I don’t agree with all that is written about men. Men are rather degraded in the books - at least the bad men are, but in her view and the view of most of the women in the books, most men are bad (lazy, adulterous and/or abusive). However you may really be lucky and find a good man as did Mme Ramotse and Mme Makutsi, Mme Ramotse’s assistant,. The books give high praise for ‘good’ men. Anyway, sometimes these things make me laugh or just roll my eyes, but so much of these books are rich in other things.

In the last book, and more and more as I read each book, I am struck by, as I mentioned above, the simple, slow pace of life and the priority given to friends and family. At the beginning of the book she was sitting on her veranda on Zebra Drive “thoughtfully” drinking a cup of tea. In a conversation with the director of an orphanage they say one to another over large pieces of cake, “We are not born to work, work, work all the time. It is important to just be able to sit and think... It is quite unnatural to work like that. There should be time for work and play. And some time for sitting and watching the sun go up and down and some for listening to cattle bells in the bush.” Doesn’t that sound refreshing? I am definitely not opposed to putting in a good day of hard work whether it be at home or the office, as a volunteer or in a ministry, pouring our life out for Christ, but doesn’t listening to cattle bells sound appealing in some way? I realized that I fill my day from sun up to sun down with something to do almost every minute. When I eat breakfast, I’m reviewing scripture memory or listening to a sermon or reading the Bible. When I eat lunch I am looking at recipes for dinner or making a grocery list or reading the news. In the afternoons, I sometimes sit down for a cup of hot tea but again, I am still doing something. My mind and body never really rest until my head hits the pillow - oh, but there I also read. For weeks I was having the worst time ever sleeping and decided to try resting for a while in the afternoon along with a couple of other things to maybe help me sleep better. I read for a little while and then just laid there. It really worked to help calm my thoughts down and just rest my body. I recommend it to anyone! Maybe you have kids. I know plenty of families where everyone in the family has a quiet time in the afternoon, even if some of the kids are too old to take a nap. They read or color or listen to tapes or draw, etc. It seems to refresh everyone and everyone’s mood is much better. I cannot tell you the last time I “sat on my veranda” and drank my tea “thoughtfully,” not doing something and if I have, I feel guilty. I felt guilty to for laying down for a rest in the afternoons lately but not anymore. I have seen the benefits of it to my mind, emotions and body. Back to the cup of tea... I am challenging myself and I challenge you to try sitting down for just 10 minutes a day with your favorite beverage and drink it “thoughtfully” not doing anything else. NOTHING ELSE! Don’t listen to the radio. Don’t watch tv. Don’t read. Don’t work a puzzle. Don’t surf the net. Go outside and listen to the wind and birds or the cattle bells if you happen to live in a place where that is possible. I think you will be amazed how clear your thoughts will become and how refreshed you will feel. Or, why not have a cup of tea and cake with a friend, just because... just because.

If you’re interested in the Botswana, check out these sites:

http://www.botswanatourism.co.bw/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botswana