It was late Sunday night. I knew I had to get up in the morning to begin the weekly grind at work, but I didn't care. This was the Olympics.

I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, I've never watched any of the Olympics, but for some reason I've been drawn to prime-time while NBC broadcasts our American teams torpedoing through the waters and slinging around like elastic during gymnastics. Sheepishly I admit I've mainly been watching to see if Michael Phelps will make Olympic history as the greatest athlete ever. He's on the right track.

Back to Sunday night…

As the evening came to a close, the anticipated 4X100 freestyle relay finally got underway. Apparently the favored French team had been trash talking about how they were going to blow us out of the water. We were the underdogs that could possibly, if we were lucky, salvage a silver metal. But if any of you watched it live or saw highlight reels, you'll know things went in a different direction.

As the last lap came to an end, the French were closing the deal like everyone had anticipated. But then American swimmer, Jason Lezak, swam the last lap with all his strength and by less than a strand of hair beat the French to grab the gold. As the announcer's voice progressed to pandemonium, you knew a patriotic moment was taking place. I'll have to admit at that moment my American pride was welling up.

As I've been watching the Olympics I've felt a sense of pride knowing that America has been putting out some premier athletes who rank among the best in the world.

I watched the opening quarter of basketball when America was taking on China. It was almost an unspoken war of which world power was better. And in the end America decimated China by a thirty point margin.

More than anything, though, Sam and I enjoyed watching our American relay team make France eat their words. And I felt pride afterward, as well when the American team didn't act arrogant about the win.

So here I am finding myself glued to the television every night, seeing what America will do next and feeling grateful to be apart of a such a great nation.

I wouldn't want to live anywhere else but America. I think sometimes the rest of the world has it right that we tend to be arrogant, but I couldn't imagine spending my life in any other country, except maybe those places Michael Moore features in his DVD Sicko about free healthcare. Just kidding.

When you see your American Olympians standing above everyone else, treasuring their gold medals while the National Anthem rises in the background, something deep inside of you should stir you and makes you proud.

I remember that famous song by Lee Greenwood, "God Bless the USA." The lyrics ring true deep within, "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free and I won't forget the men who died to give that right to me."

While I sing praises to my Lord openly on Sunday mornings thousands of people elsewhere scramble together to worship in secret, fearing their very lives. While I get to vacillate between Obama or McCain for president, others have no choice but to succumb to a dictator's agenda or face dire consequences. The list could go on forever.

America's not perfect by any means, we've made our share of mistakes (what nation hasn't?), but I'll have to declare I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.