Annually our Nation sets aside a day to remember those who have received their final reward for the lives they lived on this earth. When I was a child, the last Monday in May meant a possible visit to a cemetery and a definite barbecued meal. In the Sixties and Seventies family and neighbors went off to war in Vietnam. It was called the Draft. They returned to a despondent, embittered country – young men broken, traumatized and chronically unemployed. The wars and battles of recent years have heightened the American view of our military and celebratory barbecues are still key. As an Honorably Discharged Marine, I am blessed to witness this era and realize what it means to the families that are left behind. Let’s not forget.
Memorial Day, Monday May 25th, 2015 I remember the Saints in GOD’s Army who have gone on before; the people who served Jesus Christ so weaker one like me might know the true freedom of Salvation. The people I speak of stem from 1963 to 2014, the sort who lived their Christianity in an open, positive, real way. Like Bro. & Sis. McCune who got up early on Sunday mornings to drive across inner city Los Angeles to bring fatherless children to meet their Heavenly Father. They were people like Letha James who spent countless hours sharing GOD’s love to teeny-boppers. Women like Mabel Oslin who exemplified Biblical Leadership. And others like Doris Allmen who lived in the Light of the Cross, discounting their own suffering to care for the sufferings of others.I am blessed to have served with and learned from great people, both in the Corps and in the church. The most memorable and effective servants were those in the house of GOD. I remember, I am blessed and I follow in Holy footsteps. And I will not forget.
Hebrews 12:1&2 “Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of GOD.”
