And this be our motto - "In God is our trust,"

 On September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key viewed through the clearing smoke, our United States flag still flying proudly after the 25-hour British bombardment of Fort McHenry. The scene inspired him to write a poem, which was later set to music, and it became the national anthem. 

 May the inspiration that fell upon Francis Scott Key while he glimpsed through the smoke so many years ago, encourage us now to peer beyond the challenges of this nation—to perceive the glory of the living God that blesses "the heaven rescued land" with "victory and peace." 

Love and Blessings!

 The following is the complete four-verse version of "The Star-Spangled Banner," containing the original spelling and punctuation from Francis Scott Key's manuscript in the Maryland Historical Society collection: 

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, 
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming, 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight 
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming? 
And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air, 
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there, 
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? 

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep 
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, 
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, 
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? 
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, 
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream, 
'Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! 

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, 
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion 
A home and a Country should leave us no more? 
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution. 
No refuge could save the hireling and slave 
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, 
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand 
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation! 
Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land 
Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation! 
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, 
And this be our motto - "In God is our trust," 
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.