Independence Day is a very emotional day for patriots.  Because we know our history, we know that this nation in which we live and the incredible blessings we enjoy are an anomaly.  The history of mankind is a story punctuated with soul-crushing oppression, tyranny and arbitrary rule. 

Within this bleak history, and even within the world today, the United States of America stands before the world as a beacon of liberty, a land John Winthrop described nearly four centuries ago in these famous words:

For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. Soe that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world.

As it has been since our founding, the eyes of all people continue to be upon us.  Mankind watches our shining city, ever unsure whether this grand experiment with liberty will continue.

The people watching our nation today might be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that America's best days are behind her.  Our national and state capitols are filled to their brims with the arrogant, corrupt and self-serving.  The politicians win reelection by telling the people what they want to hear, and the people return the favor by sending them back to the halls of power.  We are buried in debt to foreign nations, and yet we continue to further impoverish future generations for present luxury.  As the rumors of impending economic collapse continue to be whispered, those with a sense of history may be forgiven for feeling an uncanny sense of deja vu.  Those of us paying attention have a feeling that hard times are coming.

And yet, as dark as things may appear, each of us knows, deep in the heart, that our situation is not without hope.  America has been through worse.  In the brutal winter of 1777, General Washington's army at Valley Forge was all but ready to collapse--and would have, if not for George Washington's incredible leadership.  Had the Continental Army fallen apart, America's dreams of independence would have collapsed with it.

And yet, America's best days were still ahead of her.

Less than a century later, Americans would set their bayonets against one another in a bloody conflict that literally tore our young nation apart.  The bloody conflict at Gettysburg in July of 1863 cost nearly thirty thousand casualties on each side over the course of only two days.  Before it was over, the Civil War would cost over half a million Americans their lives.  The scars of the war are still healing.

And yet, America's best days were still ahead of her.

Within another century, a worldwide economic collapse would drag our nation down.  Before we could get back on our feet, the Imperial Japanese would strike our navy at Pearl Harbor, dragging us into World War II.  Hundreds of thousands would pay the ultimate price during that brutal war.

And yet again, America's best days were still ahead of her.

Today, we are facing challenges that rival our darkest hours, and yet, there is reason to hope.  America, after all, is populated with Americans.

Best wishes and God bless you all this Independence Day.