Liberty Bell Message

We're still recovering from Forward a bit here, but it's all good!  Maddie was working on her new iPad today, as she's been on and off since her birthday.  She's learning the ropes of a new art program on it, experimenting a bit, and hopefully you'll see work on that here soon.  It's a Tuesday and we're moving in the right direction with a lot coming up on the horizon including Summer Xtreme and some new messages for KidPak.  We had to come up with one for this weekend upcoming, one that will tie in to the Fourth of July holiday weekend somewhat, so here below is the one thing I came up with - a message that starts with the Liberty Bell.

I just thought it would be interesting - we were looking into the crack in the Liberty Bell and a bit of the history behind the bell itself.  The scripture on the bell was of course our starting point, but the crack on the bell is iconic and it got me thinking about why the thing was cracked, which led to a few articles about the craftsman ship of John Pass and John Stow, and of course the original makers of the bell from England who also made miscalculations with their materials.  If the correct materials were used, the bell's crack wouldn't be there, presumably.  Which of course made me think of the imperfections in our government at the start - most notably slavery - and how that indeed led to a mighty crack that in time had to be dealt with.  Slavery of course, should have been dealt with at the start, but then again there was a feeling that no union could be made without the inclusion of states with slaves in them, and a stronger union was needed, it was thought, to fight for independence and continued existence.  Everyone knew it had to be dealt with, but it kept getting kicked down the generations, with things getting worse and worse until of course 1860, when it all came to a head.  And even for so many years afterwards, the price we're paying for compromise in 1789 is still here.  One thing compounds upon the other, and the only thing that can really give us liberty is repentance, forgiveness and love.  Easier said than done, of course.  Our message focuses on the sound of freedom made by the bell, by our Founding Father's proclamations, and of course by we ourselves when we share God's love.  The bell was tried by fire, in fact multiple times.  And yet so was this nation, as mentioned above.  And of course we are as well, tested and tried by fire to become something greater in the end.  Finally, that crack in the bell is imperfection, and yet somehow that crack is made perfect as the Liberty Bell is the most famous bell in the world, a symbol of freedom for all.  And of course, that is our nation itself, imperfect yes, but still used to send out missionaries to all the world, and still used to proclaim freedom to the captives.  We all are imperfect, but that does not mean we can no longer be used to share His message of love, hope, and freedom.

It was an interesting dive into history, which of course I dive into frequently, but I've never really stopped to focus on this Liberty Bell before.  My family went there a long time ago, and I have pictures of us as little kids visiting Independence Hall, and seeing for ourselves the iconic locations there.  Of course, I was a kid, so I remember Ben Franklin's privy pit about as much as I do the bell.  But it was a memorable trip.  

Tonight we revisited the Liberty Bell, but on our television set.  We saw "National Treasure" again, because we were just in that mood.  It's a super fun movie - we love it!  

We closed out the day reading, and praying too.  We've had a successful weekend, but this is a busy season right now, and we're right in the middle of it!