Christmas is the most special time of year to enjoy with friends and family and celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. To our first responders, hospital staff, truckers, airline employees… everyone giving up their holiday to make sure we can enjoy ours, God bless you! Jane and I are thankful to all the regular folks out there working hard everyday to make Ohio a place worth fighting for.
Let’s also wish those serving overseas and their families a very merry Christmas. This time of year can be especially hard on military families, so please offer a special prayer today for the men and women deployed and their families back home.
245 years ago, George Washington crossed the Delaware to attack the British forces at Trenton. This battle would be a turning point in the war and the history of America itself. Washington’s troops were ill prepared, ill equipped, and staying only one step ahead of the British who were hot on their heels. Thomas Paine was among those soldiers, having joined Nathaniel Green’s staff at Fort Lee. In the middle of the hardship, Green wrote the immortal opening to The American Crisis. “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of all men and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly. ‘Tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to set a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange, indeed, if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated.”
While we might not be crossing the Olentangy River by skiff tonight, like Washington and Paine, this Christmas we again find ourselves in a fight against tyranny. God’s divine Providence provided those Patriots all they needed to prevail and He will do the same for us. His hand has certainly touched the campaign and I look forward to sharing more on that in the coming days.
In the meantime, thank you to all the folks who have donated, volunteered, told their friends, or just come out to hear me speak. The outpouring of support across the state has been absolutely humbling. Jane and I wish everyone a safe, enjoyable and a very merry Christmas.
