The Rocket's Red Glare...the Wayfarer

The Rocket's Red Glare

"And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof thru the night that our flag was still there."

(Francis Scott Key)

Fireworks and celebrations annually occupy the attention of a nation with the accompanying cacophony of the noise created by them, a tradition that is also followed on other holidays throughout the world as it remains enchanted by both light show and noise.

Attention is focused on that show, while appreciation of the quietude is diminished, a quietude that remains possible, at least temporarily, for a people not experiencing the actual horror generated by the reality of what was written about by the author of what has become a national anthem intended to remind that people of the freedom defended by the experience that inspired it.

Gratitude for that quietude that should be given the Author of that freedom goes ungiven and forgotten as the displays fascinate the attendees, reveling in that freedom, too often without pause being given to reflect on its absence, and the presence of both cacophony and horror of similar nature throughout another world unable to experience quietude or freedom such as that being celebrated.

Those, in that other world, experiencing the red glare of rockets, and the noise of the bombs bursting in air, either pray for the end of their assault, or for the end of the terror brought about  by those employing those tools to intentionally maim and kill to promote the opposite of freedom, freedom that in some way threatens either fortunes or power to control the very thought processes of those being bombarded.

The author of the anthem, from which the opening words were taken, could only stand helplessly by as those around him took action, while awaiting the outcome of that action.

The words he wrote are now ingrained within the spirit and body of the nation he observed being defended during a time of persecution, a time critical to its existence, a time of prayer for its continued existence within the freedoms so hard won, granted by the Creator of all nations.

His helplessness did not extend to surrender of that freedom, or the concepts that generated it, nor did that helplessness translate to hopelessness in the face of the aggression that would attempt to eliminate both the concepts defended and the freedom experienced.

The same helplessness, experienced by so many under assault today, continues to be without the addition of hopelessness, as hope remains in concepts and freedoms that cannot be defeated despite that assault.

Christianity has fallen under that assault, from those who would employ those tools of aggression that Key wrote so eloquently of, and remains hopeful despite that aggression.

That hope resides only within the Author of freedom, and the quietude that cannot be shaken by the cacophony surrounding them.

As nation after nation faces the same aggression, some visibly with the advent of attack on its people physically, while others face the same attack from within on the very concepts of truth determined only by that Creator, hope remains constant and real for all who understand the meaning of freedom itself.

As long as breath remains, as long as faith remains, those attacks are destined to failure.

Fear, though so easily accepted, is even more easily dismissed and overcome when placed in the context placed on it by Jesus Himself:

Matthew 10:28 ²⁸

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

There is no helplessness, and certainly no hopelessness for the outcome of the battle currently being fought, both physically and spiritually throughout this world, even for those who experience the reality of the rocket's glare, and those experiencing only the celebrations of their past reality.

Lest we forget.... that battle continues.... and must, as must action in defense of those only able to stand helplessly by... in hope and more importantly in faith and certainty that that hope is not in vain.

2 Timothy 1:12

¹²For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen

the Wayfarer