Opinions

Tuesday, Dec. 29, was National Heroes Day, but I believe it’s never too late (or too early) to give a “shout out” to the heroes in our lives. My dad and my brother Jay have, and will always be, two of the people I look up to and admire the most. However, while living in Seminole, I have had the pleasure of meeting a slew of other heroes, our first responders.

The winter of 1777 had been an especially harsh one in Pennsylvania, and the War for Independence was not going well. The British had just captured the U.S. capitol in Philadelphia, turning back the ragged band of beleaguered volunteers of the Continental Army. Eleven thousand of them survived to retreat to nearby Valley Forge.

There’s a certain scripture in the Christmas story that has always intrigued me. You know the story… an angel visits a young girl named Mary and announces to her that she will become pregnant with God’s Son (Luke 1:26-33). Her fiancé Joseph learns of her pregnancy and secretly plans to break the engagement when an angel appears to him in a dream and tells him of God’s plan, so he takes Mary to be his wife after all.