I remember waking up one day with a desire to compose an arrangement for “The Star Spangled Banner.” I have learned enough from previous compositions that if I ever suddenly think about a specific song to work on, that I need to follow through with it. When it was all done, I let the person in charge of assigning the musical numbers in church know that I had this song if she ever needed it. She assigned me to play it on July 14th, 2024. I knew there must have been other arrangements already assigned for the Sundays leading up to the Fourth of July, and I was kind of bummed that mine would be more of an afterthought. But then on Saturday, July 13th there was an attempted assassination on former President Donald Trump. After I played it on Sunday (the day after the shooting), a few people said to me, “That song was so fitting for today.” God works in mysterious ways.