It's really long . . .

Have you ever thought, actually thought, about the Second Continental Congress of 1776? I know it sounds silly, but it's an important question. Let me jog your memory:

The Second Continental Congress was a body of representatives appointed by the legislatures of several British North American colonies which met from May 10, 1775, to March 1, 1781. The First Continental Congress had sent entreaties to the British King to stop the Intolerable Acts and had created the Articles of Association to establish a coordinated protest of the Intolerable Acts; in particular, a boycott had been placed on British goods. That Congress had provided that the Second Continental Congress would meet on May 10, 1775, to plan further responses if the British government had not repealed or modified the Intolerable Acts.
-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Tonight I watched the film adaptation of 1776, a musical based on the days and months leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Other than being 3 hours long, it was really, really good. A co-worker of mine, Jimmy, is a history teacher, and so of course when he told me that it was a really good flick, I brushed it off as one of those "history" movies that are either all Hollywood-ed up, or all boring. But I was very wrong. It was neither. It was a musical, which we all know I love, and it was extremely interesting. So interesting that I skipped dinner. I couldn't move away from the couch, I didn't want to miss any part of the plot.

It's been a long while since I had any kind of American, world or Texas history class. And of course, I don't necessarily miss them because they were pretty boring, but this show intrigued me.

I'll hit back on my first question: Have you ever really thought about the Second Continental Congress of 1776? I hadn't until tonight. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson: all names that we civilians recognize from middle school history courses and science class. Common names that we remember, but brush aside. But these men, along with many others, stood up in that congressional session and stood their ground. They were unwavering in their beliefs that, as a new nation, a new breed, a new nationality, that the people of America had the right to be free men(and women). That King George could not rule them and could not take away rights of human beings that he didn't have the right to take away in the first place.

For months on end, the men who represented those 13 colonies fought and bickered and argued over and over again about the idea of independence. And the fact that independence was a new idea seemed to keep some delegates hung up on their vote.

I am so blessed, we are so blessed to have the independence over our lives that we have. In so many countries, cities, places all over this world, so many are without these rights. America is free to live however we want and yet we still lobby and argue and picket for more. Our freedom is staring us right in the face and we look right past it because we are so greedy.

Appropriately, as election day is tomorrow, let us remember the freedoms we have, the independence we have been blessed with, the rights that are upheld every day, and the life that God has given us to live.