Happy 4th of July!

If you’re reading this, we hope it’s after the holiday. Today is a time to be with family, enjoy yourself in the sun (or whatever weather), and celebrate our hard-fought-for way of life.

This holiday commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was both an assertion that Americans are a people and the formulation of a national idea — that individual liberty and self-governance are God-given rights. That we will do whatever it takes to secure these liberties because it’s our destiny to do so and because it’s the right thing to do.

The Declaration of Independence did not create a government — that came later with the penning of the constitution. Rather, it gave rise to a nation — the American nation. And that is probably why this holiday stirs patriotism in us regardless of day-to-day affairs.

Happy Independence Day and God bless you.