Welcome on this Independence Day, 2010. Today we celebrate the birth of our democracy. I believe it was comedian Johnny Carson who defined democracy like this: “Unlike communism, democracy does not mean having just one ineffective political party; it means having two ineffective political parties. Democracy is welcoming people from other lands, and giving them something to hold onto usually a mop or a leaf blower. And, democracy means that with proper timing and scrupulous bookkeeping, anyone can die owing the government a huge amount of money.” (1)

We laugh to keep from crying, but we give God thanks for the many blessings we enjoy as citizens of this free land. Our topic today is “something to brag about.”

I want to begin our discussion today by telling you about something interesting …