Faith, Folklore, and Friends

And pray that we may be delivered from  wicked and evil people, for not everyone  has faith. But the LORD is faithful, and  he will strengthen you and protect you  from the evil one. ~2 Thessalonians 3:2-3

  Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that  was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom,  and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.   And every creature which is in heaven, and on the  earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the  sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto  him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb  for ever and ever. Revelation 5:12-13

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be  dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you;  I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. ~Isaiah 41:10

For thou hast been a strength to the poor,  a strength to the needy in his distress,  a refuge from the storm,  a shadow from the heat,  when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. ~Isaiah 25:4

But you, Israel, are my servant.      You’re Jacob, my first choice,      descendants of my good friend Abraham. I pulled you in from all over the world,      called you in from every dark corner of the earth, Telling you, ‘You’re my servant, serving on my side.      I’ve picked you. I haven’t dropped you.’ Don’t panic. I’m with you.      There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you.      I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you. ~Isaiah 41:8-10

I pray that out of His glorious riches  He may strengthen you with power  through His Spirit in your inner being,     so that Christ may dwell in your hearts  through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted  and established in love,     may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people,  to grasp how wide and long and high and deep  is the love of Christ,     and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled  to the measure of all the fullness of God.   Now to Him who is able  to do immeasurably more than all we ask  or imagine, according to His power  that is at work within us,     to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.                                              ...

The eagle, our American symbol, is the embodiment of strength, beauty, and freedom. It is said the eagle was used as a national emblem because, at one of the first battles of the Revolution (which occurred early in the morning) the noise of the struggle awoke the sleeping eagles on the heights and they flew from their nests and circled about over the heads of the fighting men, all the while giving vent to their raucous cries. "They are shrieking for Freedom," said the patriots. Thus the eagle, full of the boundless spirit of freedom, living above the valleys, strong and powerful in his might, has become the national emblem of a country that offers freedom in word and thought and an opportunity for a full and free expansion into the boundless space of the future. --Maude M. Grant Deuteronomy 32:11 compares God to a mother eagle, which "stirs up her nest, hovers over her young, that spreads its wings to catch them." When God sees we are mature enough to fly, he pushes...