**SPECIAL** Beyond Fireworks: What July 4th Means to a Naturalized American

On this special July 4th episode, Carol and I reflect on the meaning of American citizenship through my personal journey, immigrating from the Netherlands and eventually becoming a naturalized US citizen. We explore what it means to embrace American values even while acknowledging the nation's imperfections.

• Coming to America on a green card from the Netherlands with Dutch citizenship
• Making the decision to become an American citizen after falling in love with American values
• Experiencing the emotional citizenship ceremony alongside other hopeful immigrants
• The significance of swearing off previous allegiances and fully committing to American citizenship
• The importance of assimilation and embracing the values of your new country
• The special meaning of voting for the first time as a new citizen
• Finding ways to celebrate America's goodness while praying for healing of divisions

We encourage you to take time this Independence Day to both celebrate the goodness of America's founding values and to pray for our country and leaders during these challenging times.

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Episode Transcript

Piet Van Waarde (00:13):
So we are here for one last broadcast before we
redo the studio and we thoughtit might be a nice time for us
to express our appreciation forour wonderful country.
July 4th obviously is a timethat we celebrate the birth of
our nation and there's a lot ofcelebration with family and

(00:34):
fireworks and all of the things.
And it's always been a uniquelyspecial celebration for me
because I am a naturalizedcitizen.
So I came to this country whenI was a young man.
My father was transferred witha Dutch company to New York City
and so we all came andimmigrated to this country as

(00:56):
Dutch citizens.
We came under a green cardsystem which some of you are
probably familiar with, and formost of my life, in fact up
until about 15 years ago, Iremained a Dutch citizen.
I always kind of wondered wouldI go back to the Netherlands to
perhaps make some contributionthere as a pastor and kind of

(01:19):
live out the love for thehomeland?
But one of the things thathappened in my own heart over
the years that I lived here wasthat I began to see that this
country and the values of italthough we don't always live it
out perfectly and that'sobvious even in our day.
The values of this country arethe ones that most reflect the

(01:41):
values that are most importantto me, and so I became a citizen
.
Reflect the values that aremost important to me, and so I
became a citizen.
And I remember that day like itwas yesterday.
We had a wonderful experiencein the courthouse, we became
citizens with a group of otherimmigrants that all had the same
kind of story, where they cameto this country, fell in love
with the values and Carol waswith me, actually.

Carol Van Waarde (02:04):
I was.
Yeah, that was a very memorableday, yeah.

Piet Van Waarde (02:07):
And so we even remember the stories of people
from various countries thatshared their love for this
country and their desire to becitizens, and I think we should
probably say that this is a day,even with the imperfections of
our country, where we seeds ofnot appreciating the United

(02:28):
States of America and peoplespeaking out against it.

Carol Van Waarde (02:53):
The ceremony was incredible because all of
these people were.
They wanted to come here fromthe other countries.
They saw a hope and a futurefor themselves here.
It was just absolutelyremarkable.
It was a tear-jerking day andI'll never forget it because of

(03:14):
so much hope in the room thatpeople were finding.

Piet Van Waarde (03:17):
Yeah, and one of the things I remember and it
was kind of a big transition forme too was it wasn't just about
escaping where they were, itwas embracing where they were
coming to.

Carol Van Waarde (03:28):
Exactly.

Piet Van Waarde (03:29):
So one of the things that you do in the
citizenship process is that youhave to swear off all other
allegiances.
And because of my love of theDutch culture and the Dutch
language and, you know, havingsuch fond memories of my younger
years in Holland, it was nosmall thing to say you know, I'm

(03:50):
swearing off all thoseallegiances and I'm going to
commit myself to the UnitedStates of America as a citizen,
to be a good citizen.
And yet that was one of themost tearful moments too is to

(04:12):
make, especially in theconversation that's happening
today among immigrants you knowillegal versus legal, and I
think it's the piece that'soften missing is that
assimilation and an embracing ofthe values of this country is
really at the core ofcitizenship.
It's not like I just want toget out of a bad situation and
this a little nicer.

(04:33):
It's about saying no, I lovewhat America stands for.
And I am going to commit myselfto fulfilling my responsibility
to those values and to continueto say, yes, this is what we
need to be about.

Carol Van Waarde (04:48):
You were never able to vote before that time.
I know things are a littledifferent right now with the
feelings about voting, but youwere always a little envious
that I could go cast my vote forthis person or that person or
the issues that were being facedin our community, in our state,
and the first time you got tovote was pretty remarkable.

Piet Van Waarde (05:12):
Oh, I'll never forget.
It was just such a greatexperience, yeah.
And so I just want to say, youknow, in some way, you know, on
this July 4th, I would advise,encourage, challenge, maybe even
to do at least two things.
One is to, in spite of thechallenges of our country, to

(05:33):
celebrate the goodness of thevalues that created such a
wonderful land of opportunity.
So find a way somehow in themidst of your day to creatively
give thanks for what you have inthis amazing country that so
many people would love to behere, but then also pray for our
country.

(05:54):
We are in a place where a lot ofturmoil, a lot of division, a
lot of people see thingsdifferently than what's
happening and wishes things weredifferent, and so on, and I
think that we are, as goodcitizens, challenged and
inspired to pray for our country, for our leaders.
Scripture reminds us to prayfor our leaders, and so

(06:16):
somewhere alongside of yourthanksgiving, also give some
attention and prayer for ournation, and, in fact, maybe
that's what we should do toclose today.
Love it, just pray for ourcountry.

Carol Van Waarde (06:28):
Yeah.

Piet Van Waarde (06:29):
So, lord, we do thank you for this amazing land
and we are grateful for theopportunity that we have to live
here, and we've had it good.
Not everybody does, and sowe're mindful of those who are
hurting, suffering, who are in adifficult place, and I pray
that you would meet them andthat you would give them hope

(06:50):
and inspire them.
And I pray that you would meetthem and that you would give
them hope and inspire them, andI pray for our leaders, lord,
that you would give them wisdomto govern well.
I pray that you would bring ustogether as a country, even if
we don't see things the same way, that we would be in unity and
that the values and theaspirations that launched this

(07:12):
country would be fulfilled.
And we ask this in the powerfulname of Jesus.

Carol Van Waarde (07:17):
Amen.

Piet Van Waarde (07:18):
Amen, thanks for joining us and we'll see you
next week with Shana, and thenlive in our new auditorium, our
new auditorium, new studio.

Carol Van Waarde (07:31):
This is not an auditorium new.
Studio Studio this is not anauditorium New studio in August.