{"id":22459,"date":"2025-07-05T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=22459"},"modified":"2025-07-04T22:17:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T03:17:34","slug":"the-day-after-the-fireworks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=22459","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0The Day After the Fireworks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Yesterday was one for the record books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We celebrated the Fourth of July the good ol\u2019 fashioned way \u2014 surrounded by family and many friends, food that made us thankful for elastic waistbands, and enough laughter to echo across the pastures of Alto, Texas. There were games, conversations, and yes \u2014 a quiet gratitude humming beneath it all for the country we love.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"526\" height=\"701\" src=\"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Carl-Donna-Flag.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Carl-Donna-Flag.jpg 526w, https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Carl-Donna-Flag-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 526px) 100vw, 526px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>But somewhere between the burgers and the fireworks, we rolled up our sleeves and stepped into another kind of celebration: the joy of togetherness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yesterday was about freedom. Not just the kind written into our Constitution \u2014 though that\u2019s precious beyond words \u2014 but the kind that shows up quietly in the everyday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The freedom to gather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The freedom to worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The freedom to serve one another, love one another, and laugh until our sides hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Galatians 5:13 reminds us:<br>\u201cYou, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"422\" height=\"584\" src=\"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Epiphany-Group-Photo.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Epiphany-Group-Photo.jpg 422w, https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Epiphany-Group-Photo-217x300.jpg 217w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 422px) 100vw, 422px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Freedom isn\u2019t just fireworks and flags. It\u2019s found in the moments that make us more whole. It\u2019s in the belly laughs and barbecue sauce. It\u2019s in living fully, loving deeply, and remembering how blessed we are to live in this great land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So today, as the fireworks cool and the leftovers chill, let\u2019s lift a quiet prayer of thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For freedom.<br>For family.<br>For a God who gave us both.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"458\" src=\"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Payton-Christianna-e1751685413389.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22463\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The fireworks are over, but the freedom isn\u2019t. Let\u2019s live today with gratitude \u2014 and use our freedom to love big, laugh hard, and serve well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday was one for the record books. We celebrated the Fourth of July the good ol\u2019 fashioned way \u2014 surrounded by family and many friends, food that made us thankful for elastic waistbands, and enough laughter to echo across the pastures of Alto, Texas. There were games, conversations, and yes \u2014 a quiet gratitude humming&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22464,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22459\/revisions\/22464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}