June 17 | Moments Almanac | Ablaze

Welcome to Moments Almanac. This is a place for us to remember the people, places, and events that left fingerprints on the soul. Today is June 17th, 2026. It's been a difficult week this week for people on both sides of the shore of our nation as in Southern California a B-52 bomber crashed, killing eight. And then near the East Coast, we had a tent tragedy at a church, killing one beloved member at East Lake Community Church. We pray for both of these tragic events in the families who are affected. June 17th, a date that gives us a preacher whose heart was set ablaze for God and a monument whose torch would become a symbol for the hope of millions. One carried a spiritual flame, the other carried a literal one. We begin in 1703. On June 17th, John Wesley was born in Epworth, England, and few could have imagined that this son of an Anglican rector would help ignite one of the great spiritual awakenings in history, as we commemorated a few days ago. Young Wesley was disciplined, educated, and deeply religious, yet later he admitted that something was missing. He knew about God, but he had not fully experienced the assurance of God's grace. That changed on an evening in London in 1738, when, as Wesley famously wrote, his heart was strangely warmed. The experience transformed him. He began preaching across England, often outdoors, sometimes standing on tombstones or hillsides when churches closed their doors to him, preached tens of thousands of sermons, and called people not merely to religion, but to a living relationship with Jesus. His message was simple and powerful. God's grace is available to all. Wesley believed that a handful of fully surrendered believers could change the world. He once declared, Give me a hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I can turn the world upside down. It was not a call to power, it was a call to holy courage, a conviction that God can accomplish extraordinary things through ordinary people whose hearts are fully his. More than a century later, another symbol would arrive carrying its own message of hope. On June 17, 1885, the disassembled Statue of Liberty entered New York's harbor aboard a French ship. Packed into more than 200 crates, Lady Liberty arrived piece by piece, waiting to be assembled. In the years to come, millions of immigrants would see her torch rising above the harbor as they approached a new life in America. For many she represented opportunity, freedom, and the promise of a fresh start. One flame burned in the heart of a preacher, the other shone in the hand of a statue. Both remind us of something deeply human. We long for light, we long for guidance in darkness, we long for hope when the future feels uncertain. We long for freedom, not only from external burdens, but from the chains that bind the soul. And on her base those immortal words that have inspired America to open wide its doors to immigrants. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these homeless temptus tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. Jesus spoke of his even greater light. I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. John Wesley spent his life pointing people toward that light. The Statue of Liberty welcomed people searching for a brighter future. And today the invitation remains the same: to step out of the darkness, to walk toward hope, to follow the one whose light never fades. Because the greatest liberty is not found in a nation, a monument, or even a movement. It's found in the Savior who sets hearts free. Thanks for joining me for this Moments Almanac on June 17th, 2026. Until next time, take care. Notice the scattered moments, and share the grace.