Veteran's Day

It's always a humbling experience for me when Veteran's Day comes around... When I see flags lining the road or cemetery, or a beautiful picture display of men and women serving (both past and present) in the armed services - I'm brought back to the reality that those 'Bill of Rights' and liberal "freedoms" that we often 'throw around' were not cheap... They were AND STILL ARE being paid for at a high price... Many leave their mothers and fathers at a mere 18 years of age - others leave behind a fiance or expecting mother... Some miss out on their little children growing up over a year or two year... Many a soldier slide through sticky jungle heat - Others battle the bitter cold - and many trudge through dry desert conditions... Why? So we don't have to... They go and spend their days being shot at, ridiculed, (at times) unsupported, and putting their lives on the line each day for our 'right to live'... Many even pay the ultimate price for their service - and leave wives, children, mothers and fathers, and families to pick up the pieces of their heroic efforts...

I know not every soldier in our Armed Forces is a Christian or loves the Lord - but I'm in awe of their willingness to act like Him... By that I mean - be willing to lay down their lives for people they don't know and probably never will... Many, of which, take their sacrifice for granted... But they do it anyways...

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)

Many of us would willingly die for our spouse, our children, our families, or our friends... But how many would die for a complete stranger..? How many of us would die for someone that would never know or appreciate our sacrifice..? Jesus Christ died for everyone that ever lived or will be on this earth... He died for the Pharisees and even gave His life for the soldiers that beat Him and nailed Him to the cross... And you know who else He died for - me... Someone who is ungrateful and disgraces His sacrifice more than I care to mention... But His death gave me freedom - freedom from sin and from death... Much like our soldiers - Jesus sacrificed everything to keep me free...

So - don't forget to thank our Veteran's for their sacrifice... But more importantly - thank Jesus Christ daily for His sacrifice! God bless America!