First Baptist Church - Tehachapi

You are invited to David's Cradle Angle Gowns meetup on Thursday, July 9, 2026. Located at First Baptist Church - Tehachapi 1049 So Curry St., Tehachapi, CA from 10 am to 2 pm.
This sweet blanket, teddy bear, and heart are all made by our volunteers.

Two hundred and fifty years.

Today America marks a quarter of a millennium since a group of colonists signed their names to a dangerous idea: that free people could govern themselves. Fifty-six men signed what the Crown called treason and history calls freedom.

I think of Washington, a colonial surveyor who became a general, then a president, then something rarer still, a man who walked away from power. I think of a young lawyer watching bombs burst over Fort McHenry in 1814, scribbling the words we still sing. I think of Lincoln holding a bleeding nation together by its seams, and of Harriet Tubman, who found her freedom and kept walking back into danger to hand it to others. Of Roosevelt setting aside wild places so our grandchildren could stand in them. Of the generation that crossed an ocean to face down tyranny in 1944. Of first responders running into the burning towers on a September morning, and the generation that raised their hands to serve in the years that followed.

And I think honestly. No nation is clean. Ours is not, and never will be this side of glory. America's story carries real sin alongside real sacrifice, and telling the truth about both is not a betrayal of patriotism. It is what patriotism requires, truth.

But this much is certain: America is free. And freedom has never been free. It has cost lives, it puts its own liberty at risk, and it comes with no shortage of mistakes.

The signers never saw what their risk became. Neither will we.

So tonight, when the fireworks light up the Tehachapi sky, let them stir gratitude. Gratitude for the men and women who paid for this day. And gratitude to the God who gives every good gift, including the gift of a free land in which to worship Him openly.

Happy 250th, America.

If you’re in the area and looking for something to do this Independence Day weekend, the city has a lot of fun things planned!

The city of Tehachapi has plenty of fun, family-friendly events lined up for residents and visitors throughout the Independence Day weekend, starting today.

Sorry we’re having technical issues this morning!!