Memorial Day

I preached a sermon once about how every day should be our 'memorial day'... how we as Christians should daily remember the ultimate sacrifice which was given for our salvation. And while that particular sermon did 'lather up & preach' pretty good, I feel like I sort of diminished the deep meaning of the day.

Yeah, I know, Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for all men. And yes, I know, God placed that protective instinct in mankind which makes young men and women from all nations and all cultures have the desire to give their own lives to save others.

But the fact that so many people through the ages have done just that touches me deeply. I consider myself a patriot; I fly the American flag on special days... I sing the words to the national anthem at sporting events... I get misty-eyed when I hear Lee Greenwood sing 'God Bless the USA'...

And I love watching historical war movies... from 'Braveheart' to 'the Patriot' to 'Midway' to 'We Were Soldiers' (are you sensing a Mel Gibson theme here?)... I enjoy Shelby Foote's Civil War novels and W.E.B. Griffin's historical novels about World War II; I especially enjoy the more contemporary stories from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan...

I think we all love a hero. A close friend of mine served in Iraq during Desert Storm. I look up to him. He is a modern day hero who left his family when his nation called, traveled thousands of miles to fight against an enemy who simply does not apply the same rules to war and life as we do... and, thank God, returned home safe... I can't express the feeling I have just being in the same room with him...

It is for him (and especially for his friends and fellow soldiers who did not return home) that I celebrate this day, Memorial Day.

Every time I think of those who sacrifice to save others, I am reminded of the letter Abraham Lincoln sent to a Mrs. Bixby in Boston during the civil war...

"Dear Madam-

I’ve been shown in the files of the war department of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine that would attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming; but I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save…

I pray the Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost…

And the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom!


Yours very sincerely and respectfully,

Abraham Lincoln"

Let me encourage you today to think of someone you know who has made a similar sacrifice; call them and thank them for their service.

I believe we honor God when we honor people who would give their lives to save others.

Blessings!