Red Cannon Fire and a White Petticoat

By Brenda Black

Continental Army Private Joseph Martin recorded an interesting scene in his journal for June 28, 1778. Author Esther Pavao repeats his words in an article published by Revolutionary-War.net.

“A woman whose husband belonged to the artillery and who was then attached to a piece in the engagement, attended with her husband at the piece for the whole time. While in the act of reaching a cartridge and having one of her feet as far before the other as she could step, a cannon shot from the enemy passed directly between her legs without doing any other damage than carrying away all the lower part of her petticoat. Looking at it with apparent unconcern, she observed that it was lucky it did not pass a little higher, for in that case it might have carried away something else, and continued her occupation.”

Meet Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, better known in history books as "Molly Pitcher." She gained the title that late June day at the Battle of Monmouth where Mary Hays carried water from a spring to the thirsty soldiers under heavy fire from the British. All through the day, amid choking smoke, groaning troops and frightening battle, the private's young wife carried water in a pitcher back and forth to her husband and his fellow artillery gunners. When her husband collapsed from either heat stroke or injury and was carried off the battlefield, Mary Hays took his place at his cannon.

It was not uncommon for women to be near the heat of battle. Many wives of enlisted men joined a group of camp followers led by Martha Washington. They took care of the troops, washed clothes, made food, and helped care for the sick or injured soldiers. But Mary's bravery and composure with fire-hot cannons blazing, earned her a special thanks from General George Washington. And a hundred years later, a marker graces her grave, commemorating her exemplary service.

Young Mrs. Hays knew in her early 20's what it takes a lifetime for most to comprehend. Love, loyalty and a level head can keep you going when war rages all around. Mary surely loved the man she married to take such risks and to have been so frequently near him in battle that she knew how to operate his weapon. Her devotion to her husband mirrored that of her unfettered care for all of her patriot brothers. What an amazing young woman! Add to her qualities wit and wisdom so ingrained that not even a cannon ball could knock her off her game.

Though Mary was motivated by love, mobilized by loyalty and empowered with level-headed thinking, there had to be another big “L” present in that trench 235 years ago. The credit for Mary's petticoat junction with a cannon ball has to go to the Lord Himself! Together, I'd say that cool blue water, red hot determination and pure white God protection kept the military bride and a host of young patriots alive for another day.

This holiday weekend, when you hear the tummy-rumbling bang of fireworks, think back to a day when a young woman faced the enemy fearlessly and helped make it possible for you to enjoy such entertainment in freedom. Never forget how great the bravery of those who fought for liberty. Always remember that certain battles are worth the risk and to take arms for the cause of others is a noble task. And one more thing: Thank God for all your “near misses.” For most certainly, the Lord has spared you time and again from the fire of the enemy.

http://monmouthchapternjssar.org/Main-Molly-Pitcher.html

 “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” (Proverbs 29:25)

The Fast Way to God's Heart

By Brenda Black

“'Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.'” (Isaiah 58:6—9a)

Welcome to this week in America: Injustice, oppression, hunger, loss of home and clothing and life! And out of the mouth of Isaiah, a prophet who preached in the 740's BCE, we hear God speak directly to us today. He tells us if we do what is right, the Lord Himself will have our back!

The word “prophet” literally means “to boil up like a fountain.” So here are a couple of fiercely frothy topics that need some God perspective to put us on the fast track to His blessings.

Boiling up first is the need to “Loose the chains of injustice.” I'm not one to go political in this column, but for crying out loud, there needs to be a house cleaning of magnanimous proportions in our government! So much corruption and injustice cannot continue if we want to draw near to God's heart. 

The truth is rapidly and finally becoming unveiled. Those whom we have entrusted, have lied, manipulated and murdered. Trust has been decimated along with privacy. Lives have been lost along with liberty.

May the chains of injustice be loosed and the cords of this deceitful yoke be broken so that freedom and security will once again be available to Americans. There's a reason God blessed this nation for generations. Generations before blessed God!

Boiling up next is the need to “Share your food with the hungry and provide the poor wanderer with shelter.” Oddly enough in a world where social media keeps us instantly and constantly connected, the human element is all to often absent. Instead of reaching out to meet the needs of someone else, we're standing in front of mirrors taking self portraits with cell phones and so absorbed with our own trivial day-to-day happenings, that we forget none of us is the center of the universe! Good grief – we need to use our fingers less for texting the latest gossip and more for holding the hand of someone in crisis! So often, God uses the people-to-people formula to convey His love and grace. With all the pain in our country this week, don't miss being the Lord's emissary of mercy.

May we feed the hungry, house the homeless, clothe the naked and love one another as Christ loved us. “'Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.'” (Matthew 5:7-8)

There's an overflow effect after boiling up like a fountain and taking God to the masses.“Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.”

The rear guard is that part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear, either during an advance or withdrawal. Be aware, that as you speak up for truth, as you demand justice, as you sacrifice to meet the needs of another, the enemy will be on your heels in hot pursuit. I pray that the church of God does not withdraw, but advances, declaring the love of Christ and standing up for His justice.

May the timeless words of Isaiah appropriately overflow at a time when we need to hear them and follow them closely. May our fasting be honorable in the sight of God so that when we call, the Lord answers. When we cry for help, we here Him say, “Here am I.”

Find and Fight for Freedom

Find and Fight for Freedom
Brenda Black


“I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” With passion, Patrick Henry implored the citizens of Virginia to join the American Revolution. But his fighting words were premised by far stronger convictions. This patriot and founding father of our nation believed in unseen forces and supreme influence. “Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us [2 Chronicles 32:8].”

Henry would later say: “It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

There is unquestionable evidence that the founding fathers governed from a biblical perspective. They founded America on faith and set their hearts on freedom. The framers of our U.S. Constitution believed in The Founding Father who created heaven and earth and “governs in the affairs of men,” as Benjamin Franklin stated, based on Daniel 4:17.

The God who existed before the foundation of the world is the One who pierced the hearts of those men and emboldened them to declare freedom to follow Him. This same God is no less present or active today. He is the Founding Father in every way. Independence Day, then, is more than just patriotic picnicking. It is a reminder that what the Son sets free, is free indeed! (John 8:36)

The Founding Father charges us to come unto Him when we are weak and heavy laden. He promised rest long before Miss Liberty. Yet, the iconic statue symbolizes God's loving invitation. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” wrote poet Emma Lazarus. In the early 1900s, a plaque with the entire poem was mounted inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"


Some people explored here, some people were fortunate to be born here and some risked life and limb to just touch the shores of America. Why? Because in America we have the unique freedom to fully access God and experience both liberty in the land and liberty of the soul. For that I am thankful this Independence Day. Are you?

The Founding Father charges us to come then changes us into new creations. He takes the wretched refuse inside of each of us and radically forgives our sins through the blood of Jesus. For that I am thankful this Independence Day. Are you?

The Founding Father challenges us to live not just for ourselves, not even just for Him, but for all the tired and poor, the huddled masses, the homeless and tempest-tossed. For if freely we have received, so freely we must give. Will you?

Independence took the lives of brave, young patriots. It took the dedication of forward thinking visionaries who ratified our Constitution. It took desperate times and enormous sacrifices from men, women and children in every generation to sustain such liberating status.

This Independence Day, remember the price that was paid. Remember the founding fathers who intelligently launched a free nation based on biblical truths. Remember The Founding Father that gave His Son on the cross. Remember, like Patrick Henry did, that liberty is worth the fight. God help us to not lose our Independence. Without such freedom, we are tired, poor, wretched and homeless once more.

Flashback on Freedom

Flashback on Freedom
By Brenda Black

“In free governments, public celebrations serve to excite a spirit of emulation. By extolling the deeds of valor and virtue, we direct that ambition into a beneficial channel, which, left to itself, would seek advancement by intrigue. They afford the fittest occasion to pay the tribute of gratitude to national benefactors; to inculcate those maxims by which freedom is supported, and to point out the dangers which menace its destruction. The mind of man, soaring on the pinions of curiosity through the regions of hope, in pursuit of higher attainments and more exalted pleasures, loses sight of present enjoyments. National blessings, grown familiar, are forgotten, and their existence endangered. From this disposition to neglect whatever has not the stamp of novelty, arises the necessity that peculiar privileges should be frequently brought to view, and the dangers which threaten their destruction often pointed out.

“Such, fellow citizens, are the principles which should induce us to commemorate, with at least one annual celebration, the great, the peculiar, and preeminent liberties and blessings we enjoy. Let us then, my friends, on this hallowed anniversary of that Day which proclaimed us a Free, Sovereign, and Independent People, prostrate ourselves before Him in whose hands are the destinies of Nations; and adore that Providence, which in a dark and eventful hour, led us safely through a perilous revolution, and enabled us in infancy to triumph over an ancient and powerful nation. May we, on every return of this auspicious day, swear at the Altar of Liberty, that we will live true to those principles which gave birth to our Independence...”

Who delivered such stirring words of patriotism? One of the famous George presidents from the beginning or more recent? A freeman or slave? An activist or preacher? None of the above. His name was Joseph E. Sprague and his words are more famous than his own name. Sprague challenged his audience on July 4, 1810, in Salem, MA. His oration was met with high regards and elicited a note of appreciation:

“Sir, The Committee of Arrangements present their unfeigned thanks to you for your elegant and spirited Oration, delivered before the Republicans on the fourth day of July instant, and respectfully ask a copy for the press.”

The manuscript is now part of a compilation of pamphlets of addresses made on Independence Day from 1791-1925. How do such words outlast time and ignore party differences? Why have they withstood wars and been preserved through countless social upheavals? Because they are just as relevant 199 years after they are spoken. They are passionate and honest and down deep that is what every generation longs to hear – and needs to hear.

“That we will remember with gratitude, and bless with our latest breath, the Sages, the Patriots, and the Warriors, who conceived and effected that glorious Revolution which gave us a name and a standing among the nations of the Earth, and which freed us from a Tyrant who sought 'to bind us in all cases whatsoever.'

“That all men are born free and equal; that they have the right to worship their Creator according to the dictates of their own consciences, and that governments were instituted for the benefit of the the governed, are axioms which are not called in question in this country, although practically contradicted by all other nations. A firm conviction of the truth of these maxims, and a fixed determination not to submit the modes of their belief to the regulations of the government... Rather than sacrifice their integrity and bend to the mandates of arbitrary power, they tore asunder the ties of society, friendship and country; they abandoned their comfortable homes, in the dead of winter, and after traversing the tempestuous ocean, settled on the barren coast of Cape Cod...The same spirited opposition to oppression which induced our ancestors to quit their pleasant homes and settle in a savage wilderness, descended uncontaminated and undiminished to their children...That spirit of liberty which had descended undiminished from sire to son, revolted...

“After the cup of reconciliation was exhausted, after humble petition on petition, and remonstrance after remonstrance was treated with contumely and contempt, the sages of the revolution, on the 4th of July, 1776, published to the world the Manifesto of Independence. This monument of human virtue, wisdom of valor...will be regarded with veneration by the remotest ages. This Declaration, like a decree of Omnipotence, fired every bosom and nerved every arm. America rose in the majesty of her strength – she endured fatigue, want, and misery – she fought, she bled, and she conquered.

“Our first duty, fellow citizens, on the return of this eventful day is to pay the tribute of our gratitude to the God of Battles, and the instruments of his providence in accomplishing the revolution. Let it not be said that the subject is trite and uninteresting. To those who venerate liberty, who prize the boon bought with the best blood of the country, the subject can never cease to be interesting, the repetition of the deeds of valor of that time can never prove tedious. The bosom that beats with a single pulse of affection for the rights of man will always throb with renewed pleasure at the recital of the valor that won our liberties – and the eye of every patriot will yield the ready tear of commiseration at the tale of persevering toil and suffering virtue by which our revolution was accomplished.”

Celebrate your freedom like never before. Need I say more.