"239!"

With Pastor Mark out of town this morning, Ron, our youth pastor, delivered an outstanding message.  During his introductory remarks, Ron acknowledged that yesterday was Independence Day and he posed a fairly tough question to the congregation: 

"How many Independence Days has America celebrated?"

After hearing only the first four words of his question, I instinctively knew what the question would be and I immediately blurted out the answer.

"239!"

"Whoa!  Who said that?!", Ron responded.

Ron brought the message this morning in our beautiful outdoor sanctuary.

I didn't realize at the time that Debra was pointing at me from behind my back.  All I knew was that a bunch of people were staring at me after I shouted out the answer. 

They apparently were awe struck.  Amazed.  Baffled at my ability to subtract 1,776 from 2,015 faster than a computer.

My performance, however, has a simple explanation.

My oldest daughter, Bethany, was a bi-centennial baby, born the year of America's 200th birthday.  So, however old Bethany happens to be at any given time, I simply place a "2" in front of her current age and, presto, that's how many Independence Days America has celebrated.

After the service, everybody went home.

This four-day-old little girl, shown here in 1976, was a bi-centennial baby.