What could follow George Washington, the father of our country? Why, John Paul Jones, the father of the American Navy, of course. Once again, thanks to the Encyclopedia Britanicca section of My Yahoo home page, a reminder of a significant event. Today is the anniversary of the birth of John Paul Jones in 1747 on the estate of Arbigland in the Stewarty of Kirkcudbright on the southern coast of Scotland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Jones).

As a graduate of The Naval Academy, I well remember the crypt in the Chapel. Have been by to see it numerous times. Of course, “I have not yet begun to fight” is heard many times and the history of JPJ is one of the first things learned.

Just as Washington established so many firsts for our country, JPJ did so for the Navy. The first First Lieutenant (on the Alfred). The first to raise an American ensign, the Grand Union Flag (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Union_Flag), on a U.S. Navy vesel. The first captain and ship, Ranger, to be saluted by France. The first American Navy commander ever to claim victory of an enemy combatant, with the capture of HMS Drake, 20 guns, by the Ranger, 18 guns, JPJ showed that American ships could best the supposedly invincible British.

With the Bonhomme Richard, frigate, 42 guns - named for JPJ's good friend, Ben Franklin – and the battle with the fifth rate HMS Serapis, 44 guns, Jones earned his place in history. In a melee involving several American and British ships, the Serapis managed to rake Bonhomme Richard, dismasting and hulling her. The British captain asked Jones if he wished to surrender his dead-in-the-water and sinking ship. The response was, of course, “I have not yet begun to fight.” The Bonhomme Richard drew alongside the Serapis, boarded and captured her.

Unfortunately, American politics was not JPJ's forte. He went to be a rear admiral in Catherine the Great's Navy. Again, politics did not do him well. He retired to Paris, where he died in 1792, an unhappy and embiterred man. The rumor around the Naval Academy in 1958 was that he died of syphilus contracted from Catherine the Great.

His remains were found and returned to the United States in 1905 and interred in the Naval Academy.

The father of the American Navy.

The Fourth of July. Stirs so much. A time of heroes and brave men. God's touch in bringing together such an amalgamation of events.

My favorite of all of those spectacular Americans is still George Washington. He saved The United States so many ways. Wikipedia says “His devotion to republicanism and civic virtue made him an exemplary figure among easrly American politicians” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington). The main four times he saved our world to me were:

Winning the Revolution. Just plain old American stick-to-itism and morality. In the face of so many setbacks, he believed and persevered. Who would have thunk it.

After Yorktown and before the Treaty of Paris, the Newburgh Conspiracy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newburgh_conspiracy) in which a group of Continental Army officers planned to march to Philadelphia to force Congress to give them the back pay they were due, threatened to turn into a military coup. Washington emotionally explained to them that they would destroy all they had fought for.

At the end of the Revolution, Washington bade his officers farewell and just went back to Mount Vernon and Martha. George III was astonished that Washington did not capitalize on his victory and popularity and make himself something like President-for life or Emperor as so many conquerors did.

And then, after his two terms as President, he once again knew just what to do. He again went back to Mount Vernon and Martha. He was still the most popular American leader and he could so easily have gone on for more terms and established a dynasty but he knew it was wrong.

And so many more ways he set the standards that preserved our United States. Thank you, George, for all you sacrificed and for all you gave us. And than God for giving him to us.

The June issue of Scientific American has another fascinating article. The one in particular I am referring to is “A Simpler Origin for Life” by Robert Shapiro (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=779849FA-E7F2-99DF-3FF8ED5B4D8764FE).

The identification of what is “alive” has been a hot topic for decades now. I remember a situation some time ago in which lawyers got involved in it. A man due to inherit a considerable amount of money at a certain age. He suffered an event in which he was brain-dead and to be kept alive by a machine. This was, of course, shortly before that birthday. And the courts had to decide whether he got the money. They said he was still alive. And then there is the abortion issue.

Scientifically, the definition of “life” usually has dealt with the ability to reproduce. A bacteria is definitely alive. But is a virus? It has DNA and can reproduce. How about RNA?

The Scientific American article looks into a simpler definition, concentrating on the metabolism and energy. It defines life in some terms I like. There has to be, in order: 1. Entropy – one of my favorites and too much of a topic for a few sentences (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy). Well worth looking into, the crux of all of our problems. 2. Redox – (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redox) using electron rearrangement, Lewis acid-base reactions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_acid) , to provide the energy for reaction rates and for the entropy trading. 3. Mechanism – an intermediary molecule, enzyme, that guides the energy into accomplishing something. 4. Network – the ability to adapt the mechanism to a changing environment. 5. Reproduction – overflowing the container and continuing the reactions.

So it still comes down to reproduction.

No matter how you define it, it is a miracle. The top of God's universe.