Have you ever noticed how close our nation’s birthday is to Father’s Day? This year it is only 13 days. As an American and a father, I couldn’t help but wonder what our founding fathers would have thought of how well the nation turned out. As a dad, I am very proud of my children (all grown up now). However, as any honest parent will confess, there has been times in our kid’s lives we can lovingly tell them, “You really shouldn’t have done that.”

Fathers are proud of their children’s accomplishments. Those first steps, riding a bicycle, A’s on the report card, graduation, landing that first big job, finding a spouse and the delivery of the first grandchild, are only a few of the happy moments Dads experience.

The first two accomplishments that come to mind when thinking of America are WWII and men on the moon.

The world owes America more than it can ever repay. I’m not talking about all the money we’ve given out over the years, I’m speaking about the fact that nations of the world pledge allegiance to their own flag and are not saluting a swastika.

As Americans, can we can walk outside, look up into the sky, see the moon and say, “We’ve been there.” No one from any other country can say that. As a child, my father thought going to the moon was science fiction, to me it was an event I saw happen, to my children it is history.

Our victory in WWII and the Apollo missions do sum up what it is to be an American. We roll up our sleeves, face evil in the eye and do the right thing. Americans will sacrifice their blood on the battlefield to deliver freedom. Americans look to the heavens and dream. In other countries, people will wonder, “How am I going to survive today?” In America we think, “Today was good. How do I make tomorrow better?”

Are, there things we’ve done as a nation our founding fathers would have said, “You really shouldn’t have done that.”? Yes, there are, but overall, I think the father of our country, George Washington would have been proud of our accomplishments.

As a dad, my pride in my children is not wrapped up only in what they can accomplish in life. In fact, there is something that holds much more weight than what they do; it is their heart.

In a general order George Washington gave to the troops May 2, 1778, he told them their higher duty was to be a Christian. “While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.”

John Quincy Adams, our sixth President, said in a speech July 4, 1837, that American Independence and Christianity were “indissolubly linked.” The whole quote: “In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.”

James Madison, our fourth President, believed individual salvation was more important than national accomplishments. He wrote to William Bradford on Sept. 25, 1773, “A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building ideal monuments of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.”

John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. believed being a Christian was the most needed qualification to hold public office. In a letter dated Oct. 12, 1816, to John Murray Jr., “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”

In a report from the Judiciary Committee to the 33rd Congress (1854) it is stated that Christian principles founded the country, and it was expected the nation to remain Christian through the generations of time. Quoting the report: “Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle… In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity… That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants.”

Quotes such as these can fill volumes. Type, “Christian quotes founding fathers” into a search engine and be prepared to read all day. There are some out there that will try to convince you our founding fathers were deist instead of Christians, but the truth of the matter is the heart and soul of America are founded on the principles of Christianity.

If our nation’s founding fathers could look at us now, I believe they would smile at our accomplishments as a nation. What would they think of our heart? Would they shed tears?

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance” – Psalm 33:12.