Why study the words of life book, The Bible?

Recalling a seared memory - November 22, 1963

I was 5 years old. Home from school, with the mumps and my daddy was home too. The mumps had struck us both. What a pair we were! We were watching television in the middle of the day which was unusual except we were home sick.

I cannot capture exactly how it all began except my mother left the room crying, wiping her eyes with her apron. I asked my daddy what was wrong?

The president had been shot.

As a five year old you barely understand guns and death but I knew enough to know that this was truly was a very bad thing. My mother was crying, we were watching the shocking live news coverage on television, in the middle of the day and our little household had been shaken.

And then the truly unthinkable was announced, the young and vibrant John F. Kennedy was dead.

One thing I do know, November 22, 1963 was the day that America lost her innocence with the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

 The memories of that day are so seared into my conscience that I can recall in vivid detail many of the events of this and the next few days. Jackie, in the blood stained pink suit, President Johnson on the airplane being sworn in, Jackie and Caroline kneeling at the coffin, little John's salute. It is all so vivid and a sober memory.

I remember too, they buried the 35th president, at almost sunset. It was a cold, November day and as twilight fell, a young man was buried, a family changed forever, and our country would never be the same.

John F. Kennedy's youth, eloquence, enthusiasm along with a beautiful young wife were buoying the hopes and dreams of our country and suddenly all of that hope was crushed. Youth; lost, wasted, all with a few bullets from a snipers gun.

The days following the shooting we watched the funeral coverage on television. These were the days before a twenty-four hour news cycle yet our television was on all day long which had never been done before in our house. So strange.

I remember the riderless horse with boots backward in the saddle. A symbol of  a fallen soldier who will never ride again. That image is seared in my memory.

 Jackie looked so sad yet serene during the whole funeral day. She held herself together, a true lady, I do not know how she maintained composure except for the grace of God. 

John Kennedy's brother, Bobby, was visibly shaken with grief.

Our house was somber.

The nation was somber.

 The grief for a beloved President was palpable even to me, a five year old child.

Many of the stores and businesses were closed for a week.

The theories flew, a plot, a conspiracy, a Communist act. 

Where would a young mother and her children go after such a horrible life changing event?

How would our nation recover from such a tragic loss?

America recovered, but she was never the same, innocence once taken can never be regained.

 We are not a president and we are not a government.

 America is not a country drawn from a people group or a political position.

 America is an idea. Founded on freedom, freedom is our rallying cry.

Because of that freedom, sometimes we suffer, yet many from far flung nations rush to our  shores because we offer a place free from harm. An America that is truly beautiful.

My prayer is for our nation to continue on her trek of freedom, that she may boldly march for centuries beyond us all, and give a place of refuge for those desiring to be truly free.

My life was changed that dreadful November day, as were the lives of many.

God uses the bad along with the good to mold and shape us.
The Kennedy family was shaken that day and we Americans too were shaken.
Shaken, changed, yet we never lost our resolve to be the best and the brightest in the world.
We took the young President's challenge and we did great things. Your hope in us was not lost Mr. President we have gone to the moon and beyond.

I pray that we will truly come to honor God, vanquish our foes, and fight for the weaker man. May God continue to bless us as he has in the past. May our foes fear and tremble. 

The desire of our young president, a five year old girl and her family, and her now grown self is the same then as now, that we may slumber in peace and safety and advance a noble cause.

Freedom.