I went to the Shoppette on Kadena Air Force Base to get a movie for family night and I saw people pushing shopping carts filled with boxes of beer to their car. The burgers and ice cream were almost gone as well. The line at the ATM was long as people were getting ready for parties all over the bases here on Okinawa. Why? Memorial Day. I almost forgot that this four-day weekend was for Memorial Day. We got so wrapped up in the actual days off, that we forgot what the days off were for.
As Barrett prayed for our epic lunch of lean pockets and Doritos, he prayed for his Cousin Jim’s family that just lost their husband/father/brother a few weeks ago. He was a Vietnam Vet visiting Vietnam with other Vets, touring the land where he once hid and fought. He was enjoying sharing stories with his buddies and seeing the battlefields where he once laid. Then he decided it was too hot for another site walk, so he told his buds he was heading back to the bus. He never got there.
After a day and night of a search, they found his body down a hill next to a tree with his camera by his side. His camera helped put the whole final scene of his life in view. The last picture was of a water buffalo. It looks like he tried to take the perfect picture of the beast, when he slipped down a hill 70 feet before hitting a tree. A villager found his body partially hidden in the tall grass that had hidden many before that fateful day.
The tour guide, a former Marine himself, kept Cousin Jim’s wife updated with each new piece of information. He promised to stay with Jim until he presented this fallen soldier to his bride. Jim’s body was supposed to fly back to Colorado on the weekend, but got delayed due to the Vietnamese memorial celebration of the Vietnam War. No matter, the Marine stayed with him. He watched over this previously unknown soldier until he returned Jim to his waiting family. A Marine never leaves a man behind.
The untimely death of a loved one tears the soul. Memories were shared, tears were shed, and laughs of his big personality still brightened the room. We don’t always understand why some seem to go home before we think they should. Yet we were challenged at his funeral to live life to the full while we still have breath. Believers of Christ live for the glory of God no matter where they are in life. They remember that they are but dust due to their sin but that they have life because Christ died for this sin on the cross and rose again conquering the curse of death. To live their lives in gratitude for the hope of what the Savior has done for them. To love God and love their neighbor, even if that takes their own life. Greater love has no man than this, to lay his life down for his friend.
Im so thankful for all of those men and women that have died giving me a freedom that cost them everything. But even more so, I am thankful for my freedom from the death caused by sin that cost Christ his life.
I realized that Cousin Jim did not die while fighting the Vietnam battle, but he is a fallen soldier that put his life on the line for God and country. He returned and loved and served his family as a respected man for as long as he had breath.
So enjoy your party or picnic, but realize that the reason we can have a party as Americans is due to those who have fallen fighting for America. Realize that those who put their faith in Jesus, have a hope of an eternal party because of the One who died in place of them for their sin. So beloved soldier, fight the good fight of faith. As the missionary Jim Elliot famously wrote, “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”