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In God we still trust
We have a guest on the blog today! The Sweetheart, a.k.a. Douglas Elkins, has written a timely piece, In God we still trust. You can follow him on his website, Revival By Design, or on twitter! Be blessed and share with someone who needs encouragement!
The motto In God We Trust, was placed on United States coins largely because of the increased religious sentiment that existed during the Civil War. Secretary of the Treasury at the time, Salmon P. Chase, received many appeals from devout people throughout the country urging that the U.S. recognize the Creator. From Treasury Department records it appears that the first such appeal came in a letter dated November 13, 1861. Written to Secretary Chase by Rev. M.R. Watkinson, Minister of the Gospel from Ridleyville, Pennsylvania, it read in part:
“You are about to submit your annual report to the Congress respecting the affairs of our national finances. One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.
You are probably a Christian. What if our Republic were shattered beyond reconstruction? Wouold not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words PERPETUAL UNION; within the ring the all-seeing eye, crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words GOD, LIBERTY, LAW….This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed…”
Secretary Chase then instructed James Pollock, Director of the Mint, to prepare a motto. It was discovered that an Act of Congress, dated January 18, 1837, prescribed the mottoes and devices that should be placed on the coins. This meant that the Mint could not make any changes without the enactment of additional legislation by Congress. The new proposal would inscribe OUR COUNTRY; OUR GOD or GOD, OUR TRUST as the motto on the coins. Secretary Chase then sent another letter on December 9, 1863 adding:
I approve your mottoes, only suggesting that on that with the Washington obverse the motto should begin with the word OUR, so as to read OUR GOD AND OUR COUNTRY. And on that with the shield, it should be changed so as to read: IN GOD WE TRUST.
IN GOD WE TRUST first appeared on the 1864 two-cent coin.
Congress went even further in 1956 when the President Eisenhower approved a Joint Resolution of the 84th Congress declaring IN GOD WE TRUST as the national motto of the United States of America.
Over the past several months, Americans have found less and less that we are able to put our trust in. Politicians, world leaders, financial analysts, the media, and ever-looming terrorism all give us cause to worry about the state of our country and the world. It would certainly be easy to get caught up in the doom, gloom and despair of our current plight.
But I have encouragement for you today:
My trust is not in Wall Street.
It’s not in a 401K, my financial advisor, Citibank, Wells Fargo or any other financial institution.
My trust is not in my president, my congressmen or governor.
My trust is not even in the hope of a new leader that would change everything and make it all “better”.
My trust is in the God of all creation who is my salvation. My trust is in the One who will still be standing long after this world has passed away.
I have been investing in a system with benefits that are secured and never in need of a bailout or a handout.
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For Abraham…this system provided a ram when it looked as if it would cost him a son
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For Joseph…this system provided a promotion when it life in prison was imminent
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For the Israelites…this system provided an escape when it looked like certain death
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For the disciples…this system provided sudden peace when it seemed as if the storm would win
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For Mary and Martha…this system provided a fiesta when they were planning a funeral.
David, the young, ruddy teenager, found himself facing a giant in Goliath. An entire Israelite army was cowering and unable to stand against him. Yet, this young man, armed with an old piece of leather and five smooth stones, accepted the challenge.
Why?
Because he was invested. He knew he could trust in his God!
“David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.” 1 Samuel 17:37.
His God had delivered him from the lion and the bear and had anointed him to be king.
David trusted in his God.
Remember the widow woman in the book of 1 Kings. She had just enough oil and flour for one last meal for her and her son. Yet, when she put the kingdom of God first, when she honored God with her first fruits: “And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah, and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.” 1 Kings 17: 15-16.
She made an investment.
She trusted in God.
She honored God.
She put God first and He came through!
It is this kind of trust, complete and unconditional that when all around us is failing…
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When the market plunges
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The banks fail
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The bottom falls out of the housing market
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The unemployment rate rises like a rocket
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Our money fails
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Our health goes bad
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Even if we lose everything we have
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Even if it costs us our lives…
We can hold to the words of Job: “…yet will I trust in HIM…” because He is trustworthy!
Do you trust Him for your provision?
Do you trust Him for your healing?
Do you trust Him for your deliverance?
Do you trust Him for your salvation?
Do you trust Him with your time, your calendar, your schedule?
How about with your checkbook or your talents?
Give your life and your worries to a never-changing God. He alone knows the future, the end from the beginning and we can trust Him.
Enjoy these encouraging scriptures and share with someone who needs to know that we can still trust God!
“O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me…” Psalm 7:1
“And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” Psalm 9:10
“The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” Psalm 18:2
And this version is from the TLB: “The Lord is my fort where I can enter and be safe; no one can follow me in and slay me. He is a rugged mountain where I hide; he is my Savior, a rock where none can reach me, and a tower of safety. He is my shield. He is like the strong horn of a mighty fighting bull. All I need to do is cry to him-oh, praise the Lord- and I am saved from all my enemies!” Psalms 18:2-3 TLB.
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Silver and Cotton: Anniversary trip with The ‘Rents!
The celebration of wedding anniversaries dates back to Roman times when husbands gave their wives a silver wreath for 25 years of marriage, and a gold wreath for 50. Today, if you google, you can find a suggested gift for almost every anniversary. The first is paper, second is cotton, 25th is silver…you get the idea. Join me for Silver and Cotton: Anniversary trip with The ‘Rents!
Wedding anniversaries they come but once a year…
Those words are the beginning to a song that was serenaded over any couple having an anniversary in our church back-in-the-day.
Every. Single. Sunday. Morning.
I dreaded anniversaries and birthdays for that reason. Can I get an “Amen”? You couldn’t hide if you had been a member very long, they would find you and just might call you out.
Mine was made worse by the fact that I was also married on my birthday. (If you missed those posts last week you can catch up here and here!) So, you also went up for this one:
Oh, Happy Birthday to you
Oh, Happy Birthday to you
May you find Jesus near, every day of the year
Oh, Happy Birthday to you
Oh, Happy Birthday to you
And the best year you’ve ever had!
I know, it’s all sentiment and everyone loves sentiment, right?
As soon as they were finished singing the birthday song, all of the birthday people would head back to their seats. But you knew what was coming…anniversaries were next and I had one of those too, so what to do?
- Hang around the front of the church?
- Walk ever-so-slowly hoping they wouldn’t talk too much in between songs and hurry and call the anniversary people up?
- Walk real fast back to my seat so I could at least sit down with The Sweetheart and walk back up together?
I couldn’t win.
One particular year I had started back to my seat, awkwardly, and they quickly asked if there were any anniversaries. So I turned around and walked back to my worn-out spot in the carpet. When I looked up, I was still standing alone! So they asked again, were there any anniversaries? Naturally, by then the congregation was chuckling. You see, it’s pretty funny when you are up there alone, all alone, celebrating an anniversary while your beloved is sitting in his seat with a big grin on his face. Hilarious.
He finally saunters up there, as if it were a drudgery to be married to little-ole-me.
Wedding anniversaries they come but once a year
And we hope that this one will bring you cheer…
Right. I wasn’t feeling too cheerful but he was just having some fun. Remember, he said I throw him under the bus quite a bit here on the old blog.
We have had many anniversaries and taken many trips to celebrate but we have one in particular that forever stays with us. All four of us.
For our important and milestone anniversary of 25 years, the eldest of My Three Sons, Kyle, and his beloved bride, Rachel, decided they wanted to come along and help us celebrate. We were married on July 20, 1979 and they were married July 27, 2002. We were checking off 25 big ones and they were just crossing the second one off their list. We were elated that they wanted to spend an entire week with the two of us!
Kyle, the Adoring Groom suggests that I am in charge of deciding where we would go since it was The Big One for us. Naturally, he hints, that he and the Princess Bride, Rachel, absolutely adore:
- cruises
- the beach
- ocean
- white sand
- dolphins
- Mr. Sun
- blue skies
- warm temperatures
- snorkeling and…
- virgin strawberry daiquiris
But you choose whatever YOU want Mom, we’re just going along for fun!
Okay! I have always wanted to spend some time on the East Coast. We had driven from Washington, D.C. one year up along the coast and on to Niagara Falls but we didn’t get to stay in any of the New England states very long.
I chose Bar Harbor, Maine.
The Princess Bride and her Adoring Groom didn’t seem to be too disappointed since Bar Harbor is on the ocean and it was the end of July. There was hope for a beach vacation in their near future.
I poured over vacation spots and finally chose a home from VRBO; a beautiful cape cod right on the water. We were set; but first we had to make the trek from Bloomington, Indiana to the coast of Maine; 19 hours, 15 minutes and 1,271 and ½ miles. Give or take a few.
The four of us; road-tripping; what fun!
We actually did have a great time going out in the van, we stopped somewhere in Pennsylvania for the night and in one of our give-in-to-the-boys moments, we decided to share a room. I mean, come on, we are family, right? We’re just sleeping, taking showers and back on the road. I could write another entire blog post about that night. (Correction: The Princess Bride and her Adoring Groom could write the post. Let’s just say on the way back Dad treated us to our own rooms at the Hilton to make up for it.)
On with the vacation!
We arrived the next day at our Cape Cod on the water, which might be true if the waves were really high and reached across the road and up the humongous hill. When the tide was in it truly was a breathtaking sight, when the tide went out it looked just like a giant mud hole, not so picturesque. We decided that wasn’t a huge deal, we would just go to the beach. So we got inside the house and put our things away when our landlady knocked on our door asking us if we were ready for dinner. We had forgotten that an authentic Maine Lobster Dinner came with the first night’s stay! She came carrying in more food than the four of us would ever eat complete with lobster, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, bread, salad and homemade blueberry pie for dessert. We dived in.
All of us except The Princess Bride who had to make a fast exit when Kyle cut into his lobster and some undesirable goop came back out with his knife. She was finished; even skipped the blueberry pie.
Fun Fact: Did you know that over 5,316,000 lobsters are eaten in Bar Harbor every year! But not Rachel’s!
It had been pretty cool when we arrived but we knew that wouldn’t last; we were looking forward to some summer weather; at least half of us were.
Would you believe that week was one of the coldest on record? The last week of July and it was barely 60 degrees! I don’t think it ever hit 70 the entire time we were there, it was almost frigid. We bought jackets and plastic rain coats, at times it was miserable. I enjoy the cool weather but was feeling quite sad for the Newlyweds, their summer vacation plans were just not happening.
(Of course this picture wasn’t taken in Bar Harbor in the summer but it could have been, it was that cold!)
We planned for a trip to Nova Scotia on The Cat Ferry while we were there. Finally, they thought, white sands, beautiful beaches and hopefully some sun. They got two out of three. It was downright cold in Nova Scotia. We did have a great time on the boat although I understand they no longer make that run from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Such a fun, fast way to travel!
The trip wasn’t all a bust. We saw quite a bit of Bar Harbor and the Acadia mountains. Such beautiful country! We ate blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup, blueberry pie, blueberry muffins and anything else we could get with Maine blueberries. Delicious. We even saw Mel Gibson’s yacht one evening, all of us could have lived on that!
The Princess Bride and her Adoring Groom didn’t complain too much although they mention it almost every time our anniversaries roll around.
Today? Kyle and Rachel are celebrating 13 years of wedded bliss. They are truly made-for-each-other (teaser: that story is coming soon!) and light up any room they enter. I wish you both many more years of happiness together. Love you so much and miss you dearly.
(You can read Kyle and Rachel’s hilarious engagement story here, the all-time favorite and most viewed post on the blog!)
And, Kyle and Rachel, just to let you know…I’ll do the cruise for our 40th! EEK!
Wedding anniversaries they come but once a year
And we hope that this one will bring you cheer
With the Lord and Savior to be your guide
In the clouds of Heaven you will be His bride!