Okay quick quiz question here: What is the National Hymn of America? No, not the national anthem, this is a common known hymn, though few know that it was once known as our national hymn. It was originally called simply America but is better known today as My Country 'Tis of Thee.
This info that I must admit I didn't know was given by Daniel Ford a History genius and holder of many rare original documents who spoke last Friday, May 27th, at a Seminar hosted by Five Lakes Fellowship and Hunters Creek Church. Now being a history buff and loving to hear of the Godly heritage of our country, this was an extreme treat for me. But everyone else I talked to, history lovers or not, were equally enthusiastic about how much they enjoyed the seminar. Mr. Ford's wealth of knowledge on historical writings and his easy use of the many documents he had (that were written by Puritans and founding Fathers) was awesome. Also, it was most refreshing how he showed the multi-generational faithfulness of our fore fathers and how he emphasized the need to spread the word of our Christian Heritage.
After his 2 hour lesson (which still didn't seem like long enough) wherein he went down his tables of documents covering writings from Puritans in the late 1500's to the Farewell speech of George Washington, Mr. Ford opened things up for Q. &A. Out of the whole evening, including the desserts, I enjoyed nothing more than the Q&A time. One short one sentence question by a member of the audience, brought a ten + minute answer by Mr. Ford, that answered the question in full and also gave fresh information. The only fault with the Q&A time was that there was not enough time and I only got to ask one of my four questions! After the Q&A session, there was a most deserved round of applause for Mr. Ford that lasted over a minute and showed the appreciation of those there for such Godly wisdom. The oohs and ahs were heard to erupt as people began to flock around the tables holding the documents of Mr. Ford.
From single pages to whole Bibles, these writings were unique and precious and many were the expressions of admiration.
A favorite of many was a Geneva Bible, a copy of the one brought across by William Bradford, and a full three inches thick or more. The Bible had the marginal notes that were the main reason King James I outlawed it and it came complete with little book worm holes.
So in all, the evening was most enjoyable especially as it was topped off with snacks provided by the ladies of the Five Lakes Fellowship and a good time for some to have a one on one conversation with Mr. Ford.
I hope and am sure that all who attended came away with as much or more of an increase of knowledge as I did and possibly we could look into doing another seminar on this same subject on a larger scale in the near future.
