Impact Without Limits

S5 E18: Happy Birthday America!: Celebrating 250 Years of Freedom

• Dale and Brian Karmie / Adkins Media Co.

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As America celebrates 250 years of independence, Dale and Brian take time to reflect on the principles that shaped the nation's founding. From the Declaration of Independence and American exceptionalism to the faith and courage of the Founding Fathers, this special Fourth of July episode is a powerful reminder of the ideals that continue to shape our nation.

Along the way, they share favorite Revolutionary War films and documentaries, meaningful ways to celebrate Independence Day, and a heartfelt challenge to honor the sacrifices that secured our liberty. Whether you're gathered with family, watching fireworks, or simply reflecting on what it means to be an American, this episode will leave you inspired to celebrate our nation's past and steward its future.


Episode Highlights: 

  • Celebrating America's 250th birthday.
  • The foundation of American exceptionalism.
  • Why America's founding ideals still matter.
  • Meaningful ways to celebrate Independence Day.
  • Revolutionary War movies and history recommendations.


Links Mentioned in Episode/Find More on ForeverLawn:

This show has been produced by Adkins Media Co.


SPEAKER_02

We want this week to be a fun one, a celebration. Uh 250 years is something incredible to celebrate. Um, but when you think back on everything that has been accomplished in that short period of time, considering all of world history, it's just incredible. So, why would two guys leave comfortable jobs, move across the country, and start a business in an industry they don't know, a place they don't know? And could it be successful? We're Dale and Brian Carmy.

SPEAKER_00

Join us as we share our story and inspire you to become people of Impact.

SPEAKER_02

Welcome to the Impact Without Limits Podcast. Welcome back to the Impact Without Limits Podcast. Brian Carmy here with my brother Dale. Happy 4th of July. And happy birthday, Dale. Hey! Friday is your birthday. Yeah. And Saturday is America's birthday. And it is called the Semiquinnial.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, I was gonna go with Independence Day. You took it a step further than that. Here's a question. Do other companies have or do other countries have a Fourth of July?

SPEAKER_02

They do. They just don't celebrate independence on it.

SPEAKER_00

That was my trick question. Yeah, you can't slide that past me.

SPEAKER_02

I see you're wearing your American flag hold fast shirt. Yeah, so look, I got hold fast. Hold fast on the back, too.

SPEAKER_00

What's it say? Does it say faith, family, anything?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, it says hold fast. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Yes, it does. Faith, family, and freedom.

SPEAKER_00

Three of the F's. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. And you, you're with your America flag shirt. Repeat on. It's got uh American flags in multiple directions. So any direction you're going, that flag is waving. Yes. I would say technically, I think the blue stars are supposed to always be in the top left, but I it is a pattern on a shirt. If you were skydiving, you're jumping one down.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's good.

SPEAKER_00

And then another uh hat, this one. The red, white, and blue, stars and stripes, eagle with wings spread. I'm not gonna keep this on for the whole episode. Kind of pinches my head, but let's go, Murca, baby.

SPEAKER_02

Looks good while it's pinching. So we just first of all, this is the episode. This is our this is our celebration quincentennial semi-quincentennial celebration episode.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, because the next episode it's gonna be in the rearview mirror. Yeah, we that will be the episode of the semi-quincentennial. Right. We're not done celebrating because it just starts, it just kicks off then. But this is this has been a buildup for us. And if you haven't noticed, we love we love America. We do. Uh, very passionate about this, and I am so pumped. I've been looking forward to this really for the whole year. It really came, I mean, it it's been out there, you know, forever since I've been born. I knew the semi quincent was coming at some point, but it's really been on my radar since last 4th of July. It's like this is the big one coming up. So I have a playlist. I can I share the playlist? Can we do that on here? That would be fun. Uh I've got them watching TV shows, I'm watching movies, I've got shirts and hats, and Lori's been ordering all types of decorations for the Fourth of July banners and what do you call those half-circle things that hang? Bunting. Bunting. I love bunting. I think I I asked her if she could get a bunting, and uh I love this country. Oh my goodness, I love this country.

SPEAKER_02

And I mean, we celebrated, we always celebrate Independence Day, right? It's a big day, and for multiple reasons. One, it's America's birthday. Two, it's your birthday. It is. I mean, July 3rd, July 4th, big I know we've talked about this before. Favorite holiday for you.

SPEAKER_00

It is. July 4th is my favorite holiday. It is a fun one to celebrate. It is. Look, how do you not pick Christmas or Easter as your favorite holiday? From a faith perspective, the birth of Christ and the death and resurrection of Christ, nothing supersedes that. But as a holiday, July 4th is my number one. I love the summer. I love America. I love that America gives us the freedom to worship Christ and talk about Christ and share Christ with others. Wouldn't have that in other countries necessarily. And um, this is a great time for me. And it and my birthday. So the whole I like to say I was born on July 3rd, and then all of America celebrated on July 4th.

SPEAKER_02

That's pretty good. And when we uh I mean, it's a fun one to celebrate, like you said, it's summer. So you're outside, you've got the pool, you've got a barbecue, burgers and hot dogs, corn on the cob, fireworks. Fireworks. It's one of the Frevelon F's. We usually can throw a football around, we can work all of the Frevlon F's.

SPEAKER_00

Lots of food, lots of fun. Certainly, freedom's there. You invite the friends over, you're with family. We have freedom of faith. We can celebrate, you know, worship Christ and share that and celebrate it out. They're all there. And a little bit of grit to get it all lined up and in place.

SPEAKER_02

Is that just like when you the grit on the burger that you've dropped on the ground and you pick up a good spot for the grit.

SPEAKER_00

Now tell me, out there in TV land uh or radio land, whatever we call it. Um I I I'm a guy and you are too, I think. I am a guy, yes. No, let me finish that. When we're cooking or when we have something, it's like no man left behind.

SPEAKER_02

You yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So you drop a burger, guess what, guys? It doesn't get thrown out, it doesn't get fed to the dogs. It's back on the grill. If you're coming to my house, you might want to know that. Now, what I hot dog, you drop it in on uh you used to have the the old uh charcoal brickets, yeah, and they're all you know ashing and stuff, and a hot dog falls in there. I'm bringing it out, and it's going back on the plate. Now, I will usually set that aside and I eat them. I'm the guy that will eat them. I don't make other people eat them, but you get a little bit of grit in there. You get some of the ash, some of the charcoal brickets if you drop it on the pavement, a little bit of grit from the from the driveway. But it's good for you, builds character.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And we always fireworks, that's fun. I like to think that George Washington would have eaten a burger or a hot dog if it fell on the ground. Well, it yeah, it depends on the state of his teeth at the time.

SPEAKER_01

He had with I heard he had wooden chompers. He had trouble with his teeth.

SPEAKER_02

He could have jumped right through that. He was maybe more soup toward the end. Oh man. Uh I love going to see fireworks, like big fireworks display. I love setting off the fireworks. So we gotta figure that out.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Like the last several years, I've been letting off my own fireworks. The downside is then I'm not out watching them. So but it's a lot more fun to let them off.

SPEAKER_02

I think, and this is just me celebrating your birthday. This year, Friday night, we should make the celebration with the fireworks that we set off. And then I don't I don't even know where to go see a but like sometimes find it.

SPEAKER_00

We gotta see a great show. I mean, it's 250.

SPEAKER_02

You know what? I'm not gonna do this because many people are doing it, but actually go to DC and see the fireworks over top the monuments and stuff.

SPEAKER_00

All right, we're gonna time travel here a little bit. I know this is June 29th. I know this is June 29th. June 29th. But I want to go back in time a little bit. Yep. Because May 17th, I know I don't even know how to do this.

SPEAKER_02

You can't do it. It's what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00

You should have May 17th, you should have been with us down at Washington, D.C., where President Trump rededicated America as a Christian Christian nation. And we went to DC Sunday, we gathered in the mall. There were tens of thousands of people there. It was amazing.

unknown

That's all I got.

SPEAKER_00

And and I hope I hope you guys took part in it. If you didn't, go look and see what happened. Go look it up. The president of the United States rededicated our country as a Christian nation. I love it.

SPEAKER_02

And for those of you who are saying, wait, a Christian nation, again, we talked about this in a previous episode, but the uh live free podcast with Josh Howerton, where he interviewed Tim Barton, and we'll link it again here, just a great reprogramming or or deprogramming of misinformation. Deprogram, then reprogram. Um with the truth. Great, great content. All right. So we just we wanted to celebrate today. We just wanted to celebrate. I think I'm fired up. I think let's start with just like the greatness of America, right? And there's something that that Rush Limbaugh, uh, somebody I loved and listening to, great patriots talked about American exceptionalism. Yes. And that that sometimes gets misquoted or misunderstood to mean that we think we're better than everyone else. And it's not that we're inherently better in our DNA, but it's that the story of America is a story of freedom and of people, you know, in all of history, might made right, right? People ruled by power and then by lineage, and you had nobles and non you know, ordinary people, and you just had this total separation. And America comes along and says, All men are created equal. Yes. Endowed by their creator with certain union. So that is created.

SPEAKER_00

And key in that, setting the stage for this, and I think we're gonna have a podcast about this coming up in the future, unless we did it in the past. But George Whitfield. George Whitfield was I think that will be in the future. Was like um he he was what's the word I'm looking for? The evangelist of the colonies. And he was he wasn't American, he was from Britain and he came over here. But for two decades, three decades or more, he traveled to all 13 of the colonies, speaking at all different types of locations, out in fields from balconies of buildings in the city, speaking to thousands, tens of thousands of people, proclaiming the rebirth available in Christ, new birth, being a new creation. But what he did was he opened up this idea of freedom that everybody is special. Like you said, it's not nobles, it's not lineage, it's not this. We are all free in Christ, in this idea, this ideal um opened, I think, the minds and hearts of the people living in the colonies to realize that we are free people, we are set apart. And uh I think that not I think, but it is recorded, that has greatly fueled the ideals of freedom and liberty that that led to the American Revolution.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So again, just to try and summarize this idea of American except exceptionalism, America was no, it's great. You were saying you were you were describing it, right? But Rush just talked about how every other country is founded on geography or ethnicity or conquest or or uh heritage or heredit, yeah, hereditary rule. Um America was the first nation founded on just this philosophy. Again, all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. And that all of the prosperity and greatness and exceptionalism of America flows from that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so so think about this. We we we called it, you just said it, American exceptionalism. What it really is, is the exceptionalism of God's creation. America is the nation, the government, the country that unleashed it. Because everybody has this. All men are created equal, all men are endowed by their creator, right? With certain unalienable rights. We just live in a land that recognizes it and opened up and allowed that freedom to come out. So what American exceptionalism is, what American greatness is, what uh unleashed the power of I I think I don't know what anybody would argue is the greatest nation that has ever existed in terms of um knowledge and and discovery and advancement of of the the human way of life, what unleashed that is that notion that we are all created equal, and then that government structure that opened it up and unleashed it to all people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

No nation has created more wealth, lifted more people out of poverty, been more charitable, won more world wars against tyranny, right? Not fighting for conquest. No, baby. But fighting for and even today, even the wars fought today are fighting against oppressive powers, not for conquest, not for personal gain, but for right. And in 250 years.

SPEAKER_00

In the midst all of that, and then you you kind of said with charity, but I don't know that any nation has reached out and shared the gospel, evangelized more to to spread the the word, the message of Christ um than what America has done. And and and that isn't that isn't again, that's not our government. That's not our country, that's our people, but is our people unleashed. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02

Although, as Josh Howerton taught me, the early Congress actually funded missionaries to Native Americans. Yes, they did. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

Funded Christian missionaries, our government so and purchased Bibles and put them in the schools so they could be part of the curriculum of the American people.

SPEAKER_02

So you separation people out there.

SPEAKER_00

Check your notes. We were we are a Christian nation and we were founded on Christian principles, but and our government promoted that, but there it it is that separation is that the government isn't going to impede our religious freedoms.

SPEAKER_02

And it doesn't the government doesn't derive its power from being appointed by God. So you know they're fighting against, right? You have to think about the context, right? You had like these nations in uh Europe where you had the Crusades, right, or the Spanish Inquisition, and these things where they were using the name of Christ, but they were conquest. They were just uh I mean, I'm honest, I think that was anti-Christian, what was happening there. And and that is the problem that you get when you link, you know, a government and theology together. And so the founding fathers were like, listen, yes, we're Christian, but we're all going to worship separately. And the government isn't going to make any laws about restricting religion, and the government isn't going to be dominated by any one religion, right? That's the separation, that's the difference. But it wasn't freedom from religion or a pushback against Christianity. We were absolutely founded in direct question Christian nation.

SPEAKER_00

Uh the only way you can refute that is if you just choose to deny and ignore the truth. If you go back and you look at the documents and the information, and and again, I think we're gonna have a whole separate episode that deals with that, but um yeah. So American exceptionalism, it's real. Um we are an exceptional nation and we're an exceptional group of people, but like you said, it's not because there's something inherently different about us necessarily. It is that uh our freedom to be as great as God created us to be has been unleashed.

SPEAKER_02

And I think personally, our family is a great example of that, right? Our father, born in Syria, born uh, you know, different religion, born Muslim, but is attracted to this idea of America, this idea of a shining city on a hill, comes to an American mission school, ends up being introduced to Christ, his life is changed, our family history changed forever. And then he comes to America and and he's able to be an American, right? Not because of a birthright, but because he ascribed to this set of ideals. Now that's one thing that I think we need to hit on. It's not just anybody open to any, it's open to people that ascribe to the ideals of what America is.

SPEAKER_00

That's why we're doing what we're doing, Brian. That's the whole point of this podcast we've been doing this season, is making sure people understand what are those ideals, what did drive the founding of this country, what were the beliefs of our founding fathers? They believe uh that they needed to lay out, define, and protect. And yeah, I mean, you can have people come from any walk of life into America, but they need to embrace the American ideals. They need to embrace the Christian foundation, nation, uh the you know, the building of this nation. Doesn't mean they have to be Christian, but they have to understand that's foundational to who we are and what was established, and and that all men were created equal and that we have certain inalienable rights, uh, life, liberty in the pursuit of happiness. We're not guaranteed happiness, but we're guaranteed an opportunity to pursue it and that people sacrificed what? Their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor to create it. So, yeah, as you know, my goodness, we go a whole nother direction and talk about immigration and people coming into this country, but you don't come into this country to tear it down and talk about how great the country country you left was. Or to make this country what you left. If that's what you want, just stay in your country. But you come here because of the opportunity, because of what it represents, and you need to embrace that. And I I think a lot of immigrants do, but there is certainly that that section uh that that you you hear a lot about today that uh they come here and all they want to do is complain and tear it down and or come for the the social welfare benefits that certainly were not intended.

SPEAKER_02

They were those were intended as a safety net. But uh, you know, I and I I'm I'm gonna say something here and we can edit this out if we don't think this is appropriate. But um you you talk about adhering to the you know, understanding this is a Christian nation and people immigrating, does that mean they need to be Christians? No. I'm gonna compare that to our company, right? For everyone, we talk about like we are founded, you know, for everyone F's faith, number one. We are Christian men. We make no apology for that and we we don't hide it. No. And does that mean that everybody that works for us is a Christian? Absolutely not. But you know what? They it would be great if they were. I wouldn't love it. But they're not. I wouldn't love it. But they ask they understand that's who we are. They understand that the values that come with that, operating with integrity, uh, treating others better than yourself, loving your neighbor, those principles service, servant leadership that Christ modeled. They have to embody those principles, even if they don't necessarily ascribe the same source.

SPEAKER_00

They need to understand um the way we operate, decisions we make, what we choose to do, is rooted in that. Right. And they need to understand, appreciate, and accept that. And they need to know what our heart is and the message we want to deliver and ultimately what we want to accomplish. Um, we talk about Foreverlone, and and you know, we we could go all way down a different path there. But purpose, purpose, purpose. What is the purpose? Why do we do foreverlon? Yeah, it's not to make great grass, we do that. It's not to make money, we do that, and you have to be successful. But our purpose is defined as what? To be people of people of impact and to create people of impact. And we do that through our company, we do that with our people, we have the opportunity to do it with our customers, with our partners, what have you. That drives us. And I think everybody that joins our company needs to know that and understand that. And I think it's a great comparison, a great analogy, Brian, that the country is the same way. So when you come into this country, you don't have to be is not this perfect mold cutout that this is what an American looks like. But there is a set of ideals, a set of foundational beliefs, understanding what this company was country was built on and founded on, and you have to embrace that. Absolutely. And if you don't embrace that, and what what do we say? For Evelyn. The culture is either going to accept you or it's going to spit you out. And that same thing is going to happen in America. If you want to come here and not buy into the founding, not buy into the greatness, the American exceptionalism, the opportunities that we are created and that we're created with these certain inalienable rights. And if you're not going to buy into all that, then the culture is going to spit you out. The problem we we're dealing with today is we have people who, rather than getting spit out by the culture, are trying to change the culture and get the culture to spit out the truth and the true foundational principles that we're on, which is why we're talking about the education system that doesn't teach the things we're talking about here. So leading up to the fourth, I'm going to implore you again. You know what would be fun if you're at a picnic on Fourth of July? Read the Declaration of Independence. Pause and you don't even have to read the grievances. The grievances is the big main middle section. Just read the cards. It's good to know them. Read the opening two paragraphs and read the closing paragraph. It would take you two minutes. Be at your party, be at your picnic, do that. Let it sink in what is really there and what this country's what this country's really about.

SPEAKER_02

And and I would encourage you in leading up this week, and and I've been doing it a good bit of this year and even prior, but like find some things that talk about the founding of our nation and watch it, read it, listen to it, dive into it. And so I think just again, we want this to be a fun episode. This is a celebration. We kind of got in got a little serious, but but I love it.

SPEAKER_00

Bethany. Bethany gave me a nod. That's good.

SPEAKER_02

Let's talk about some of the movies and and we've talked about all these, but let's just kind of put it all together. And uh before we do, I have to give you the I was gonna do this at the beginning and forgot. And for everyone, it's a birthday. We don't sing real well, so we do our frosty chant. And for you and for America, this is a this is a double special. I want to give a sincere. Because it's for America. Ready? On three. One, two, three.

SPEAKER_01

Happy birthday.

SPEAKER_00

And you should be able to flash back to the frosty cartoon and see that. All right. So yeah, so shows, right? Yeah. Uh and I've been doing that. I've been watching and re-watching. And first of all, what I've realized is there is a huge deficit in our world of entertainment on quality movies and storytelling on the founding of this country.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That is one of the greatest stories in the history of history. And and we're not telling it.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Uh, so we've had a hard time finding good material, and there's some out there. And I mean, look, there's information, there's documentaries, and there's books you can read and whatever, but I'm talking like entertaining novel uh type movies, blockbuster movies.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, the comparison is like World War II, right? The number of movies and and what pop culture around that is huge. And even as we start currently, like the the the uh war on terror or Afghanistan or those things, the Middle Eastern big movies on that than there is on the Revolutionary War. But so we're gonna throw out some things that we really liked here. We're gonna leave some out accidentally, but um movies, we've talked about it. Number one on the list has got to be The Patriot. The Patriot. You started big, you went big. It's it's it's just classic. And I need to go back and I'm gonna watch this one. All right, what's the one? I will have watched it again.

SPEAKER_00

This is his name, Benjamin Martin.

SPEAKER_02

There you go.

SPEAKER_00

I was gonna call him Mel Gibson. Mel Gibson played Benjamin Martin. So, well, I I don't even know if I should do this. I'm gonna throw this out there. We're gonna flash a picture of my car on here. I know I usually name my vehicles. I have not named that vehicle yet. When I first got it, it was called Samson, and then we got a dog, and Lori named the dog Samson. Well, I can't have a car with the same name as my dog, I would get confused. So I've it's had a couple different names, but now that it's wrapped patriotic, I'm trying to think there's got to be a good name for it. And I thought about like the Patriot or something like that, but that sounds so obvious. I wanted something a little bit smarter, and I thought about Benjamin because Benjamin Martin, because Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, you've got some Benjamins out there, so you got some Benjamins, is what I'm saying. But I don't know that that's it. So I don't know. If anybody wants people to submit I'm asking people to if you have ideas on what I could name my car, and we'll put pictures up there. Uh, and you can you can say something obvious, you can say something smart, you can say something hidden.

SPEAKER_02

Um I've been calling it the Captain America mobile. But that that's a long name. That's not like a name you can use. But when you see it, man, it's it uh it screams America.

SPEAKER_00

So back back to the Patriot. I if you haven't watched it, you gotta watch it. You have to watch it. And if you have watched it, watch it again. It is intense. It is very intense. You've got small kids, and it is it is graphic. There is a little bit of killing going on. Um but you watch, I think it does similar to like um oh goodness, what's the World War II movie, everybody? Private Ryan. Similar to Private Ryan, there are graphic battle scenes that I think just help you understand a little bit. I know it's not real, but helps you understand a little bit what it must have been like and the sacrifices made and what people went through um for for the the freedom that that we have now, this country. And Mel Gibson does a great job. And what's interesting, uh, spoiler alert, is Mel Gibson is not like this rah-rah freedom fighter. I I want to fight against Britain, let me loose. He was a reluctant participant in the war. He wanted to preserve his family, he wanted to focus on living life, not risking it, and things happen that draw him into it. And just that tension, that painful battle internal and family and national, uh oh. I think that is more real than we.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, again, the these um the American colonists were I mean, certainly there were the Sons of Leo, there were some that were really pushing for it. A majority of the the colonists were pulled into this war. They were reluctant warriors, but they were defending their homes, defending their their their friends and neighbors. It was the British were the aggressors of that war, I guess is the way to say that.

SPEAKER_00

Do you have a favorite scene or a favorite moment or story from that movie?

SPEAKER_02

There's a lot of harsh ones in there. I mean, I'll just say the hatchet is meant to be. I mean, it's it's seared in my head. So that is that is certainly there. But yeah, great. Great movie, and definitely worth. If you haven't seen it, go watch it, celebrate uh this Independence Day. Um, there was a couple movies that have come out recently. Um, The Great Awakening. I did not see it. But that is actually so one of the things going back to this Josh Howerton podcast that we've been referencing, the Live Free podcast with where he interviews Tim Barton, um, which we'll link to that in the show notes. But they they talk about how the founding fathers really didn't have a lot of these original ideas that we give them credit for. As a matter of fact, all of the rights in the Bill of Rights they trace back to sermons and pastors. So the pastors of the founding fathers were incredibly influential. And and really, early preachers and pastors in America uh really shaped what became this nation. And George Whitfield, that story, is a huge one.

SPEAKER_00

So so that that movie that came out on Good Friday. Um it's out of the theaters now. Hopefully, it's available um streaming online somewhere. Go find it and watch it. But it's really cool because um it is a faith movie because George Whitfield was an evangelist and he's traveling up and down the the coast, the Atlantic coast, speaking to the colonies about um freedom in Christ. Um, it's a revolutionary movie because it's set in the colonial times, and George Whitfield um is speaking about freedom and the creation of freedom. Not he wasn't talking about political freedom, but they tied together. And then it's also a character movie because George Whitfield developed this very close friendship with Benjamin Franklin and was really neat to see how that played through. Um and uh interestingly, I mean, I said this two weeks ago, you know, Benjamin Franklin was a deist. That's not necessarily correct. Um and thanks to Josh Howerton and and uh Tim Barton, I got that corrected. But I don't know that George, that Benjamin Franklin was um, well I know he he wasn't saved and wasn't a Christian like um Whitfield was, but they developed this great friendship and there was this this tension there where Whitfield's out talking to all these people and thousands of people responding to his call, and Benjamin Franklin didn't. And so there's that tension to the movie, um, just outstanding. Uh I very well done movie. You learn about the founding of this country, you learn about Benjamin Franklin, um, just super well done. So I I'd highly encourage watching that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, really I'm looking forward to that one. Haven't seen that one yet.

SPEAKER_00

Um, but great story. And and I'm trying not to give away too much of the movie, so I'm I'm keeping it a little bit big.

SPEAKER_02

I see what you're doing here. Um but a movie that comes out this Friday for your birthday. John Irwin thought he'd give you a gift. I love it. And he said, What does Dale love? I love George Washington, George Washington. I love America. God, he loves America, he loves George Washington. So for his birthday, I'm gonna give him a movie called Young. George Washington. And so I've only seen trailers for this, but it looks terrific. Oh my goodness. So looking forward to this movie.

SPEAKER_00

Um I'm I'm gonna encourage you. I know it's the holiday weekend, and I know you're gonna be out doing fireworks and eating hot dogs you dropped on the ashes and all this stuff, but find time somewhere in that weekend to go see this movie and take some people with you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, maybe if I mean Friday night, maybe go Friday afternoon or Friday night Friday, any time during the day. Some people are off on Friday because the fourth falls on Saturday of this year and it is your birthday. So maybe Friday, or if you you know, celebrate Independence Day and Dale's birthday, the third, and Independence Day, the fourth, maybe the fifth, Sunday night, you go to the movie theater or something and watch it.

SPEAKER_00

You had a good idea. You proposed that we should rent out a theater. I did propose that.

SPEAKER_02

I wasn't necessarily proposing that for all of podcast land, but yes.

SPEAKER_00

But if you live nearby and you want to maybe reach out to us and see if we were able to make that happen, we don't know if it's possible yet, but we're gonna try and secure a theater and and take a group out and watch it on uh July 3rd.

SPEAKER_02

But I'm looking forward to that, Young Washington. So I'm I'm reading through, I've talked about this a little bit, but the the uh George Washington by Ron Chernow. It's a huge book, and I'm only through the first 10%, 15% of it. There's your grid. Um but I've covered the part of his life that I think this movie will cover, because at this point um he's now married to to Martha, is where I'm at in the book. But those early days, it's really interesting to see the the story of some of his battles and his sh and I just from the preview, I saw like some of the same things I've I've read in the book, which were he wanted to be a part of the British military so bad. He got turned away, kept getting rebuffed. And man, I just think bad move, Britain. Whoops, right? My goodness, but that's the hand of Providence, right? There are many things in George Washington's life. Again, not that he was a perfect man, he was a great man, not a perfect man.

SPEAKER_00

I'm just gonna go on record. Anybody we talk about is not a perfect man unless they're talking about Jesus, man or woman. Correct. So I'm just gonna say we don't have to keep saying that. Okay, that's fine. All right, but because it's true. I mean, we could say that everybody we talk about, we could say that. Uh none of us are perfect. So let's just let it rip.

SPEAKER_02

George was a good man, he was a great man, but I think you see God working through his life over and over again, protecting him. He was divinely protected in battles, he was uh put in positions, and and look, we all see that in our life where God's directed us. When you look in hindsight, you see things where you've been sometimes protected from yourself or protected from situations you were in. But with with George, I mean it was so great, and that I mean, there's a great story of an Indian chief, and I think we've talked about this on our previous episode, that wanted to meet this man that they knew the great spirit had protected, right? And they didn't maybe call God by the right name, but they knew they were still referring to God, they knew so young Washington. We're excited about that one. Um, there's a movie that I haven't seen yet, but it's an old movie. It's 2000. I just show you the trailer for it. Yeah, and and it's called The Crossing. So it's obviously about uh Washington crossing the Delaware. And it's made in 2000, right around the time of another movie that I love, shortly after, Dumb and Dumber. And Dumb and Dumber, the stars, obviously, um uh Jim Carrey, Jim Carrey, and Jeff Daniels, and Jeff Daniels plays so many different types of roles. He plays serious roles, he plays the dumb roles, he plays, but in this one, he plays George Washington. So who was Jim Carrey in this movie? Jim Carrey wasn't in this one, but uh Jeff Daniels is, and so um look at I'm gonna go back and find that one. That one's I can't I can't necessarily vouch for it yet, but could be a good one.

SPEAKER_00

I like it's probably gonna be cheesy if we didn't know about it and didn't hear about it, it probably just slid off into the distance. But yeah, there's not a lot to choose from, so I agree. I'm probably gonna watch it uh tonight or tomorrow. Well, yeah in the past.

SPEAKER_02

In the past. Uh and it was an A and E. I think it was a made for TV, but looking forward to it. Um and then I'm I'm just gonna jump because I've been talking a lot and I don't want to spend a ton of time, but some of the TV series, if you guys are looking for things to watch this week to kind of get ramped up and and ready for independence.

SPEAKER_00

I suggest something every night. Set aside an hour and a half to two hours each night this week and watch watch something.

SPEAKER_02

Um I if I if you were picking one thing, for me personally, the John Adams miniseries, it was it will. It's seven episodes, an hour long each episode, but just a great story. John was uh obviously the second president of the United States, um, and had just an amazing life. So it goes, you know, we we started this uh earlier this season talking about the Boston Massacre, and John was the one that defended uh the British in that, and then all the way through he becomes the ambassador and ends up you know the second president, and then his son John Quincy Adams becomes uh number four, right? And and there's actually a book. We we went up to uh American Policy Roundtable um organization, public square organization, and they have a book on John Quincy Adams that's called The Oration, where he's talking about uh America and and really uh the the basis of our freedoms being uh in Christ. And so uh great book and great resource, but um just a good family, and the John Adams series is a is a terrific one to watch. Uh Paul Giamatti's John Adams, which makes it fun. He does a great job. He really does. Um a couple other series that I'm started both of these, but I haven't made them through yet. I think you've seen both of them. Sons of Liberty.

SPEAKER_00

Great. What's the other one? Turn. Great. So yeah, so can I talk about them a little bit? Sons of Liberty is a three-part, um, you know, three-episode short series, and it ends with essentially the start of the war. So it is talking about the Sons of Liberty, that group, that group of patriots you talked about up in New England in the Boston area. Um, you know, you it touches on the Boston Massacre, it touches on the Boston Tea Party, it's John Adams, Samuel Adams, um, John Hancock, and uh the it, you know, it hits then at the battles of Lexington and Concord. And um it's really, it's really, I think, well done. Again, same thing. We we got to put an asterisk in there, the couple scenes. There are a couple scenes that would rather they weren't in it, and a little bit of inappropriate stuff here and there, it's not laced throughout. Um, so be aware of that. But I just think again, it does a great job of painting the the story, the image of laying the groundwork that becomes the American Revolution and it becomes the Declaration of Independence. That uh these people that become our founding fathers, Paul Revere and their um I'm is it Sam Prescott? Um Dr. Prescott. I don't I'm gonna stop because I'm gonna miss the names. Um but really good. I think very well done. Three three episodes are probably about an hour, hour and a half each one. And I at the end I was sitting there thinking, why'd they stop? They should have done more, they should have kept going.

SPEAKER_02

Maybe they will, maybe there'll be more. Um, the next one, turn, it's a lot longer. It's got four seasons, right? Four seasons and I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

Probably ten episodes in the season. Um this one, again, I think really well done. There's some things about it that I didn't love. I'm not sure I loved their portrayal. Uh I shouldn't say I'm not sure. I'm sure I didn't love their portrayal of George Washington. I think at times it made him seem a little confused, a little um maybe not the man that I I've and I obviously didn't know him, but I've read about and researched and things. Um couple times I get a little off um uh, you know, with some of the you know inappropriate material. The beginning of season three, I almost stopped watching it because it felt like it turned into a soap opera, but then they they they brought it back. So be aware of that. But what the story here is, is a story of Washington's spies. So, and as I've researched this, they said George Washington was a great commander, great on the battlefield, but maybe his strongest asset and the reason that he won the war was he developed this spy network. Did anybody know the name of the spy ring that George Washington created? It had a code name.

SPEAKER_02

I do, and I think the name ended up being one of the Vikings quarterbacks. No, I'm just teasing. I know it's not.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it started according to the show, so uh it's called the Culper Spy Ring. And I don't know if this is true, but in this show, it's it was originally called the Culpepper Spy Ring. And um the the one main character says, No, I'm not gonna do that name. If I do it, it's Culper. So I don't know if that was real or not. But so anyway, it's the story of the spy ring. And so the the war, the armies, Washington, those things are on the periphery, but the main story or these spies and and what they did to gather information because remember the British took over New York, and so the spy ring ran from no Long Island, so it's to talk at Long Island into New York City and gathering information and sharing it with Washington and the troops. Again, I I think overall, very well done. You know, a couple times have your controller ready. You might want to fast forward a little bit, but uh a great, great story.

SPEAKER_02

All right. We could I I think we're probably 40 minutes in, so we're gonna wrap up the the we'll put some links in there. There's some uh short video series we've talked about, the story of America um from uh the whitehouse.gov, which is actually a subset of the Hillsdale.

SPEAKER_00

Watch that, watch that series. I know we've we've talked about it probably every episode. Question if you're listening to this and you're a regular listener and you haven't gone out and watched those yet.

SPEAKER_02

Why? What can we do to encourage you to do that this week?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, allow me to help you go out to whitehouse.gov, go to the 250, I think it's called the 250 celebration or something like that.

SPEAKER_02

Story of America.

SPEAKER_00

All told, it's probably gonna take you 50 minutes or an hour. Um, great information.

SPEAKER_02

And we want this week to be a fun one, a celebration. Uh 250 years is something incredible to celebrate. Um, but when you think back on everything that has been accomplished in that short period of time, considering all of world history, um, it's just incredible. And we're incredibly grateful and thankful. So go enjoy it, have fun this week, celebrate food, family, friends, freedom, fun, faith, fireworks. Little bit of grit. A little bit of grit when you drop those burgers. But in doing it, as you're celebrating, talk about the reason you're celebrating, right? Any holiday that we have, the reason we have them is yeah, we want to have fun and celebrate, but you the reason why behind it is the most important thing. We talk about that at Thanksgiving. Who are we giving thanks to and what are we giving thanks for? Christmas and Easter. It's it's yes, family time's great, but it's about the meaning of that season. Independence day is no different. Have fun, have the picnic. But remember to talk about with your family and friends the reason we're celebrating.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and I'll say check out the show notes. We're gonna have my playlist, my America playlist in there. You can cue it up for your Fourth of July party. And um, man, God bless the USA. And I mean that truly, we want God to bless this nation. He has, and uh I hope that he will continue to do so. Amen. God bless everybody. Have a great week.

SPEAKER_04

This is a thread calling me reminding you that faith looks up, hope looks ahead, and love looks all around to see whom it can help. Good day.