Hello, thank you so much for joining me today for Give Him 15.

Title of today's Post, A Flag Reborn.

I haven't talked about the Appeal to Heaven Flag in a while, going to today.

I was first introduced to the Appeal to Heaven Flag in May of 2013.

I was the executive director of a Bible college,

and it was my responsibility to choose the commencement speaker.

I chose one of my spiritual sons,

not because he's a great preacher,

but because he isn't a preacher at all.

Will Osten is a military man, a JAG attorney at the time he was, now he's retired.

A JAG attorney for a branch of our special forces. I chose a soldier as our commencement speaker

because I wanted our graduates to know they didn't have to be pastors or preachers to be used by God.

At the end of his commencement address, however, Will threw me a bit of a curve.

Quote, he said, quote, I believe the Lord has asked me to give a special gift to Papa Dutch, he said,

I wasn't sure I like this, not wanting the emphasis to shift from the graduates to me.

But he had the microphone, what could I do but trust him?

Before I give you the gift, he said, I need to explain the history behind it.

It's a replica of a flag displayed by George Washington and America's founding fathers.

This flag was actually used before the stars and stripes existed.

In many ways, it's the banner under which

America was born, he explained. Now, this fact does nothing to dishonor old glory. I display her

proudly and still tear up during the Pledge of Allegiance. Nonetheless, the symbolism of this earlier flag is extremely important.

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