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A Renaissance in Patriotism: A Series of Blogs by Blockhead (2)

The following thoughts are from a few years back, yet they still hold relevance today...

"C.S. Lewis once said, 'We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.' I have had the honor of attending a funeral where I received the best Christmas gift I could have asked for: getting to meet the Patriot Guard Riders and a chance to watch them in action.  There is much honor in the way these men and women conduct themselves for 'a warrior that has crossed over'. It truly is an antithesis to the evil factions in our broken world. Now, in this context, I am referring to the skewed (to say the least) views of a clear dichotomy, the Westboro Baptist Church, but this goes deeper than patriotism and honor for the fallen.
Lately, I have revelled in reading Charles Colson’s final printed work, The Sky is Not Falling (just in case you are unsuspecting, Colson, after surviving his prison sentence following the Watergate scandal, had a change of heart after studying C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity). This book shines the light of truth on where our country has really gone wrong: postmodernism and a “lukewarm” morality. He writes about how since September 11th, the eminent theologian Mike Novak called the current evolving era 'the beginning of the end of postmodern preeminence'. America started coming back to the realization that there is such a device as moral truth, that there is good and evil in this world.
Heroes such as these, the Patriot Guard, are a prescription for America’s malaise.
Our culture today seems to exhibit the erroneous indication that liberty is to be interpreted as not the autonomy from tyrannical, oppressive dictatorships, corrupt governments, etc… but the right to do what we please whenever we please. I think Benjamin Franklin illuminated it in quite a different light: the right to do what is right. 1 John 1:9 articulates it this way: 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'
Can this precedent of thought equip our American brothers and sisters for a brighter future before it is too late?"

...Fast forward to a church van with five pre-teens inside and a gentleman riding his motorcycle in front of us. A teachable moment if ever there was one! I informed the kids that the gentleman in front of us was a Patriot Guard Rider. He had the leather jacket with the PGR emblem, a decal of the organization on the seat of his motorcycle, and an American flag proudly waving in the wind. I then had to explain as best as I could that they are...the Calvary. After I had the privilege of telling the story of the Patriot Guard, it finally came time for our paths to part. The Hero pulled to the right as he was going to merge onto the opposite highway that we were headed. It was a proud moment for Blockhead when every young man and woman in that van waved to him and thanked him for answering the call.

Thus, Blockhead has to get his 'hands dirty' as the Renaissance continues...

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