The Crisis

"These are the times that try men's souls . . . "

      -- the beginning of Thomas Payne's The Crisis (1776)

These words written so long ago embody the timeless, heart wrenching, gut demanding challenges facing those who long for freedom.

In 1776, The United States sought liberty from England's control, interference and regulation. Today, many of America's greatest challenges come from within.

As Thomas Payne wrote, "Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

Is your "soul" being "tried" by the precarious circumstances of America's current crisis? 

It's not going to be easy, but we must engage! We must get involved and do our best to preserve what our founding fathers and fighters worked so hard to establish for themselves, their families and their posterity . . . that's you and me!

Independence came at a great cost. We remember the stories of Washington's army marching through snow with bootless, bloodied feet. In Valley Forge they lost 2,500 of their 12,000 men to typhoid, jaundice, dysentery and pneumonia. 

There is more to this story.

Although General Washington's men sacrificed and persevered through incredible difficulties, his rag-tag army -- though tired, cold and ill equipped -- emerged from their six-month encampment trained, ordered and revived in spirit. They won! Cold, sickness and hardship did not stop them . . . a great work was forged in that valley! 

When the Huguenot explorers named Valley Forge, years before Washington's troops arrived, they named it well. It was the site of a foundry -- a place where fire blazed and hammers pounded -- where tools and weapons were forged. During the encampment, Washington's troops were trained and transformed to face the battles to come.


My friends, we are in what I am calling "The Season of Valley Forge" . . .

As we prepare for the upcoming elections, will we be like the "summer soldiers" or "sunshine patriots" Payne wrote of in The Crisis? Or will we lean in to the task with whatever means we have at our disposal? We MUST change the direction our nation is headed or we will be headed over the "cliff" we're teetering upon even now.

America is in crisis: 

• debt crisis
• moral crisis
• spiritual crisis
• jobs crisis
• housing crisis
• health care crisis
• education crisis

And if crisis is too strong a word for the following, we must at least acknowledge these areas of major concern:

• substance abuse
• threats to constitutional rights
• illegal immigration
• terrorism
• national security and military matters
• human trafficking

Wherever you are, whoever you are, there's something you can do to make a difference! You don't have to be Captain America!
     Volunteer!
          Pray!
                Encourage like-minded people to do the same!
Together, we can make a difference for the future of our nation.

As Kathryn Lee Bates knew, America must crown her greatness with goodness, or she will decline like the European nations before her.

I know strategies and plans are being implemented . . . there are places you can plug in to help and pray and pray and help. Don't be weary in well doing!