To a visitor from another planet, the 4th of July in Washington D.C. would be hard to explain.

They would obviously be aware of current technology, from the T.V. to video games, to virtual reality synthesizers, and almost anything that is designed to entertain.

They would probably wonder why thousands of people begin early in the morning, parking their cars along the road near the city, setting up tents and chairs, bringing in coolers and hibachis.

They would search their data bases, looking for an explanation.

What are they waiting for? What are they all doing?

And instead of the crowds getting smaller toward the end of day . . .they keep growing, until not one square inch of ground is bare when night falls.

Then suddenly they would witness thousands of people watching primitive fireworks, developed over 5,000 years ago, light up the evening sky.

They would never understand that it’s not just the fireworks that bring people out, but what they represent . . . the freedom to watch and enjoy and remember for one moment that we all share something in common . . . the love of our country.

This is Nina May at ninamay.com hoping you never forget why we watch them.

Al Gore is reinventing his image to appeal to voters who may have been living on a remote island for the past eight years.

For the rest of America, it is going to take more than telling us what we want to hear. . . we need to see fruits of a changed heart.

Take the city of Almolonga in Guatemala, for example. There used to be eight thousand people, thirty-six bars and three churches.

Since a spiritual revival that occurred there a few years ago, there are now twenty-four thousand people, three bars and eighteen spirit-filled churches.

They used to have four trucks per month leave the village with vegetables, now they have forty-six per DAY.

Ninety eight percent of the people profess to be born again Christians and almost every truck, car, house or business proudly proclaims it with signs.

People travel from all over the world to see carrots the size of your forearm.

So as Gore struggles with a new image to get more votes, the town of Almolonga truly has a new image . . . one that reflects the power, forgiveness and the love of God.

A heart change, not an image change, would be a believable transformation with tangible fruits . . . like the vegetables in Almolonga. This is Nina May.

When we hear of situations where the Ten Commandments are being taken down from courthouse and school walls it is odd that the followers of Christ seem to be the ones standing in the gap on their behalf.

After all, The Ten Commandments weren’t given to the Christians . . . they were given to the Jews, by God because they are His chosen people.

This was long before Christ was even born. And during his ministry, Christ said, I came to fulfill the law and the prophets. And, that all the commandments are fulfilled by keeping two . . .That you love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Ironically, if you do these things you will not break the other eight commandments. But why is the Christian community fighting so hard to keep laws given to the Jewish community?

Because if Christians love God, the same God, they must love their brothers as themselves. And the Ten Commandments represent a direct link between God and Man.

What Christians should pray for is that the world would see that Christ represents the same link as the written word, and that the word is “love.”

The circus has many acts that symbolize real life.

We see the tightrope walker delicately keeping his balance to avoid falling. This is a lesson we should apply daily.

The horses run in unison around a tiny ring, but if any one of them did not keep up, stopped, protested, it would cause them all to stumble.

But the most interesting symbolic act is the tiger trainer and some of the largest, most powerful animals in the world.

With a tiny stick with a piece of string on it, this vulnerable man has the power and authority over animals that could kill him easily with the swipe of a paw.

This has two applications, depending upon who the trainer represents, and who the tigers represent.

If the trainer has faith in God and believes as the Bible says that he has more power in his little finger than Satan, and acts accordingly, he can manifest that power.

But if the trainer is Satan and we are tigers, we are ignoring the incredible power and authority God has given us and are letting a weak man, a stick and piece of string control us.

As soon as we know who we are, then we can figure out how to manifest God’s power and Glory.

If Christ did not exist, or was not who He said He was, how could he have exerted so much more power in death, than in life, to have the whole western calendar system recalculated to match His birth?

Even before his death he told his unbelieving disciples they would do greater miracles than him.

And the main distinction between Christ and other religious leaders is that the tomb is empty . . . he conquered death literally, so that we could conquer it symbolically.

But even that could have been explained away in 2000 years or even forgotten. Certainly the new Christians being fed to lions must have entertained the thought that maybe it was a rumor and the resurrection didn’t really happen.

But the miracle that has survived 2000 years is the fact that the Holy Spirit of Christ never died but is as alive today as He was when He walked the earth 2000 years ago.

That is the miracle that has outlived common logic, persecution, rejection, and the forces of evil.

We celebrate the empty tomb on Sunday, but do we really understand that he is with us still, today? That is the miracle that defies common sense and logic.

In his inaugural address in 1994, Nelson Mandela said, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant or talented? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking, so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

It is interesting that a man who spent 27 years in captivity should understand the true meaning of liberation.

It has nothing to do with where your body is, as the Apostle Paul attests to in the Bible.

His greatest revelations about liberty came while in captivity.

But unfortunately, most people live a life with their body free . . . while their mind is still held captive by doubt, fear, depression, or rejection.

This is Nina May reminding you that Christ came to set the captives free.

The flying fox is really a bat, that has a two to three-foot wing-span, and soars and flaps its wings like a large bird, not fast like a regular bat.

Its face looks like a fox and its feet look like long slender claws, like the feet of a bird. When it is soaring overhead it is beautiful and gracious and is truly awe-inspiring.

The minute it lands though, it is an ugly creature that pulls itself up the tree limbs with the front claws of its wings and the back claws near the tale.

They make an ugly screeching sound that you only notice when they have landed.

It sounds almost melodic when it is soaring.

They are like all of us who have the choice of soaring like an eagle, with wings spread, lifted by the peace and glory of God, or we can choose to cling to our worldly natures and crawl up trees like deformed bugs.

As humans, only we are created in God’s image, yet we have the choice to live our lives in our own image.

I don’t know about you, but I would much rather soar like an eagle than crawl like a bug.

The other day I saw water leaking from the ceiling in my basement.

A plumber spent four hours cutting holes in the dry wall in the all the areas that could possibly be the source of the water.

In doing so, we saw evidence that it had been in other places besides the basement but we couldn’t find the source.

Finally, on the third floor, after removing the dry wall and baseboard in a bedroom, he found a small copper pipe that had been pricked with a nail when the molding was installed five years before.

It created a tiny, small, unnoticed drip of water that took five years to manifest itself in the basement . . . three floors below.

There are many analogies that can be drawn from this. But it really depends upon what the pipe is carrying.

If it is carrying bitterness, anger, and destructive thoughts then it will manifest in a destructive way that can’t be seen, until the damage is done.

Or, the pipe can carry love, truth, and compassion and where it accumulates, it will cause streams of living water to be poured out.

This is Nina May encouraging you to keep the pipes of your life full of love because you may never know how it will affect someone’s life.

The ghost gum tree in Kings Canyon, near Alice Springs, Australia, is a eucalyptus tree with white fuzzy bark.

The most unusual thing about this tree is its ability to self regulate for survival.

During times of prolonged drought, it will actually amputate one of its own limbs in order to allow more water and nourishment to get to the rest of the tree.

These limbs will never grow back and a painful reminder of the decision to sacrifice one for the good of all, is a black ring lying in perfect contrast against the white bark.

Sometimes in life people have to make tough decisions such as this, for survival of the whole, or just to allow it to grow.

There is another tree called the Rain Tree found in the rainforest in North Eastern Australia. Most leaves of tropical plants form a type of umbrella and catch the water directing it to the limbs and the trunk. The Rain Tree will fold its leaves and point them down toward the ground allowing all the water to fall through them onto the plants below.

It is a sacrificial gesture. Liberals are right, we can learn a lot from nature.

The other day I asked my young son to pick up his toys.

Later he came and confessed to me that he was going to tell me he did when he really didn’t.

He said he looked down at a little wrist band he wears that says WWJD? And asked himself . . . “What Would Jesus Do?”

It touched this mom’s heart that he would have the courage to tell me the process of deceit he was contemplating, but it touched me even more to know that he really understood who the person of Jesus Christ was.  That Jesus is one of the role models he uses to determine right from wrong.

It doesn’t say, WWCD? What Would a Christian Do? Because Christians are fallible like everyone else . . . some just pretend to be perfect.

No, he chose the most perfect role model for character, leadership and excellence that the world has ever seen . . . Jesus Christ.

It makes you wonder, why we are taking such a good role model for behavior out of public schools, just when kids are dying for someone to believe in.

My son picked up his toys, but who will pick up the mess left by humanism, socialism and atheism?

Maybe children wearing little bracelets will lead the way.