“Bombs Bursting in Air”

Most years I get to attend the feed and fireworks show at the Gerdes’ place south of Gretna – this year I attended.  It is always a good time of fellowship with sumptuous foods and the “snap, crackle, and pop” of fireworks!

A year ago, God trumped the human fireworks with His own in the form of a thunderstorm that rolled in over us.  This year, on the northern horizon, God was at it again with a cloud bank full of lightning!

As we were taking in our own show, we were privileged to see a show on the horizon.  All across the skyline there were bursts and streaks – it is a great show.  As one waits between launches at Gerdes’, there is the sound of explosions and compressions happening both near and far.  It reminds me of my uncle talking about the war effort in Europe with sound of big guns often heard in the distance, especially at night.

The explosions, flashes, screams, and tracers remind me of the night that Francis Scott Key had in Baltimore harbor on September 14, 1814.  He had been taken captive by the British and put on a skiff tied to a British warship.  All night long the Brits bombarded Fort M’Henry attempting to either invoke a surrender or bring its destruction.  Key was keenly interested in every shell that exploded near the American flag flying over the fort, for the light from the explosion revealed if the flag was still there and the fort still holding.

As I watched the “bombs bursting in air” last night, I could not help but think about Key.  We shoot off fireworks with excitement and joy but often don’t think of the first “fireworks” event that sought to defeat us as a nation.  The guns blasted and belched sending explosives into the area of the Americans seeking to kill them or bring them to defeat.  Each firing and subsequent explosion was likely the end of the infant nation.  Key was greatly aware of what was at stake that night.

When we shoot off fireworks, are we aware of that night over 200 years ago that brought about our national anthem?  Are we aware of what those “bombs bursting in air” meant?  Are we aware of the guns that rumbled across Europe 75 years ago causing destruction, death, and defeat?  We realize that many cities have limited fireworks both in the number of days and in the hours they can be detonated because of those suffering from PTSD caused by actually being in a combat zone defending our way of life or aiding others in trying to keep their way of life.

Are we thoughtful that war, while terrible, is sometimes necessary in order that we might continue to openly gather with friends over tables of food and enjoy entertainment?

As Key wrote: O thus be it ever, when free men shall stand between their loved homes the war’s desolation! Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n rescued land praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!  Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just; and this be our motto; “In God is our trust!”