Biosphere 2 was the ecological bubble

in which a group of people

lived for 2 years.

I've heard that within that bubble

the fruit trees

wouldn't hold the young fruit to maturity.

The fruit dropped off early.

Researchers found the cause to be the lack of wind.

Wind, it seems,

causes branches and young fruit

to strain against their relative attaching parts,

thereby strengthening the connection

and allowing the fruit to be strongly enough attached

to bear the weight of growing to full maturity

without falling under that weight.

We live in a world in which

we have isolated ourselves from disturbances

as a sign of success.

If we wish,

we have no wind in our life.

This concerns me

for it is through disturbances

that we come to bear fruit.

In Matthew 7:20, Jesus says,

"You will know a person

by the fruit they bear."

He also said,

"Every tree that does not bear good fruit

is cut down and thrown into the fire."

I think we may want to ponder

what kind of lives we live.

Do you remember where you spent

the fourth of July?

Our family spent it with some friends

at a pool party down by A Mountain.

As darkness came upon us

my 1-year-old became restless.

I held her

and stepped away from the group.

As I rocked her

she put her head against my shoulder

and laid still.

I thought of her generation

and what I will be passing to them.

One of our friends

put a song on the boom box

and turned it up...

I'm proud to be an American

where at least I know I'm free.

And I won't forget the men

who died and gave that right to me...

And I thought about 56 men

who signed onto an unrealized dream.

A declaration that held

certain truths to be self-evident.

Five signers

were captured by the British as traitors

and tortured before they died.

Twelve

had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons

serving in the Revolutionary Army,

another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56

died from wounds or hardships

of the Revolutionary War.

They signed

and they pledged

their lives,

their fortunes,

and their sacred honor.

Yet they signed the Declaration of Independence

knowing full well

that the penalty would be death

if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia,

a wealthy planter and trader,

saw his ships swept from the seas

by the British Navy.

He sold his home and properties

to pay his debts,

and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam

was so hounded by the British

that he was forced to move his family almost constantly.

He served in the Congress without pay,

and his family was kept in hiding.

His possessions were taken from him,

and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers

looted the properties of

Dillery, Hall, Clymer,

Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward,

Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown,

Thomas Nelson, Jr.,

noted that the British General Cornwallis

had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters.

He quietly urged General George Washington

to open fire.

The home was destroyed,

and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis

had his home and properties destroyed.

The enemy jailed his wife,

and she died within a few months.

John Hart

was driven from his wife's bedside

as she was dying.

Their 13 children

fled for their lives.

His fields and his gristmill

were laid to waste.

For more than a year,

he lived in forests and caves,

returning home

to find his wife dead

and his children vanished.

A few weeks later,

he died from exhaustion

and a broken heart.

Morris and Livingston

suffered similar fates.

These were not

wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians.

They were soft-spoken men

of means and education.

They had security,

but they valued liberty more.

Standing tall and straight,

and unwavering,

they pledged:

"For the support of this declaration,

with firm reliance

on the protection of the divine providence,

we mutually pledge to each other,

our lives,

our fortunes,

and our sacred honor."

And then

I thought about the

men and women

in our history,

who have gotten up out of the grass

and run toward the smoke.

And I thought about

how easy it is to feel patriotic

when the fireworks are going off

and the music is playing...

and how hard it is

when the sun is up,

the pavement is hot

and my use of the freedoms offered to me

have brought consequences

other than what I wanted.

There are no guarantees.

We must work for what we want

and sacrifice for what is important.

Both in country

and in faith.