I read a little about our national emblem, the American Bald Eagle. There are some interesting facts about this amazing raptor. It has been our national emblem since 1782. They are the brown color, just like the photo above, until they are four to five years old. Then, they take on the distinctive brown and white pattern. Isn’t he beautiful? The Bald Eagle only lives in the North American Continent.

The eagles are large—they can weigh up to 15 pounds and have a wing span of seven feet. They love fiercely—they mate for life—unless one dies or disappears. They rarely flap their wings but soar through the sky, holding its wings almost completely flat. When they soar, they travel at approximately 40 miles per hour. When getting food, they can dive at about 100 miles per hour. Wow!

Today is America’s birthday. For two-hundred forty years, we’ve been a beacon of liberty to other people in places less free. Our armed forces sent men and women who bled and died so we and others can be free. So we can practice our religion freely. So we can speak our mind. So we can bear arms to protect our nation—but also ourselves. Our nation is something like our national emblem, the eagle. We love fiercely and fight for freedom. We are not afraid of standing for it.

Sometimes we stray from what was once right. I’m quoting from a devotional for today in The One Year Book of Psalms:

The year 1857 was not a good one for Americans. A financial crash had shaken the money centers of the world. Industry stood still. Wall Street floundered. The slavery issue divided North and South, Irish and German immigration flooded the labor markets, and interest in religion was at its lowest point in decades. Then a layman, Jeremiah Lanphier, began a noonday prayer meeting in New York City. At first only a few attended. But soon the idea spread to other cities. Pastors in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati called for a day of prayer, fasting, and humbling themselves before the Lord. Then came national revival. Within the next two years between five hundred thousand and one million people were converted to Christ.

Wow. Does that sound like our nation today? Divided about major issues. Unemployment. Too many immigrants.  Financial woes.

What if believers all around the United States began to pray for their country? What might happen? The Christians in Washington State began last Wednesday morning when they met with Franklin Graham, son of renown evangelist, Billy Graham, on the steps of the capitol building at the state capital of Olympia. All around me, at least five thousand people bowed their heads in prayer for their state, their nation, their city, themselves. We asked God to heal our land. I heard murmuring voices pleading with God.

This happened in Israel, too, in Psalm 80:19. They were a nation exiled, they were far away from God and they prayed this passage in the Psalms:

Turn us again to yourself,
O LORD God Almighty.
Make your face shine down
upon us.
Only then will we be saved.

Let’s begin with you and me in our State. And our nation.

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!