This Sunday Will Be Outstanding – Here’s why…
"I thank my God every time I remember you." - Philippians 1:3
We’re
going to take time this Sunday to honor our military personnel. It’s a chance
to remember all those living, and also a chance to pay respect to all those who
died serving our country in war. A great question is, “Why would we celebrate Veterans
Day at Church?”
Anyone could easily give
the generic answer — because these individuals served our country — and that would
be true enough.
But, have you ever really
stopped and taken the time to realize just how much these people sacrificed?
Barely out of high school, these heroes took unimaginable risks to protect not
only American interests, but the interests of the oppressed in other countries;
sometimes even without the gratitude of the American people.
We celebrate Veterans Day
because as long as there are heroes to stand against the evils of the world,
there will be us, the people, to remember and honor what they have done.
For most of us, rarely do
we pause to think about how much veterans have truly sacrificed for the
American cause. We tend to picture veterans as older men and women, overlooking
the fact that many were most likely drafted right out of high school.
How would you feel if instead
of going to college, you were going to Korea or Viet Nam where there was a
great chance you would never be coming home? How would you feel saying good-bye
to your mom and dad, knowing it might be forever?
Bearing this in mind makes
it easy to appreciate what these people have done not only for us, but for the
world. One example…
Back in
1945, as Allied troops moved across Europe in a series of offensives against
Nazi Germany, they began to encounter tens of thousands of concentration camp
prisoners. Many of these prisoners had survived “death marches” into the
interior of Germany from camps in occupied Poland. These prisoners were
suffering from starvation and disease and unspeakable torture.
US forces
liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany, on April 11,
1945, a few days after the Nazis began evacuating the camp. American forces
liberated more than 20,000 prisoners at Buchenwald. They also liberated
Dora-Mittelbau, Flossenburg, Dachau, and Mauthausen.
Liberators
confronted unspeakable conditions in the Nazi camps, where piles of corpses lay
unburied. Only after the liberation of these camps was the full scope of Nazi
horrors exposed to the world. The small percentage of those who survived
resembled skeletons because of the demands of forced labor, the lack of food, and
compounded by months and years of maltreatment. Many were so weak that they
could hardly move. Disease remained an ever-present danger, and many of the
camps had to be burned down to prevent the spread of epidemics. Survivors of
the camps faced a long and difficult road to recovery.
In so
many of the areas of the world where the United States has been involved in
battle, human rights violations and atrocities have loomed large. Last Sunday was designated as the day to pray
for the Persecuted Church. It’s hard to
believe that in 2015 there are still places in the world where there is no
freedom, especially the freedom of worship. We are
most fortunate. We live in the
wealthiest nation on the earth - free to attend the church of our choice, to
own as many Bibles as we can afford, there’s no limits on the number of
children we have, we can vote for the leaders of our government, and even write
a letter to the editor of the newspaper when we disagree with the decisions
they make.
And why can we enjoy these
freedoms? Because the men and women in our armed forces understand that freedom
has a cost. And since the birth of our nation, brave men and women have stepped
forward, weighed the cost and chose to lay down their lives in service to their
fellow countrymen.
Jesus
said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for
his friends” (John 15.13). This is the picture I saw time and time
again as we prayed over those of our families, friends and flock being deployed
- Soldiers going out on mission, into extremely dangerous territory, knowing
that even with all the body armor and protection, there’s still a very real
possibility that one or more of them might not come home. Yet they went, day
after day, putting their lives in danger to protect fellow soldiers, and
certainly the people of the United States of America.
I can’t
wait to see you this Sunday. Why not
invite a Vet? The Honorable Dan Eismann,
a decorated veteran, will be speaking and will underscore the significance of
spiritual living. Come expecting an
unforgettable time at Deer Flat.
Loving
You and Him,
Pastor D
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