Memorial Day

     I carry a planner around with me most everyplace I go.  In it I keep my lists of things to do, properly categorized and dated, of course.  The thing is that I tend to be forgetful.  Oh, I don’t mean to be.  It’s just that sometimes I am carrying so much in my mind that things get away from me.

     But there are some things that I will never forget.

• Being sent to the principals office when I was seven for singing "I'm a Believer by the Monkees on the school bus.  I was a big fan of Davy Jones.
• The day my son set the lawn on fire.
• The moment I knew that I loved Pat.  We were on a train after a pretty disastrous first date.
• My first glimpse of each of each of our children.
• How soft my grandmother’s cheek was and how she smelled of tea.
• Patrick swearing in to the Navy on August 27, 2001 and a few weeks later the planes hitting the Towers.

     Tomorrow is Memorial Day.  A day set aside to remember those who have died so that we could be free.  Because of those who sacrificed, we have the right to assemble in church on a Sunday morning.  We have the right to live at peace in our homes.  We have the right to pursue happiness, to be educated, and to disagree with our government.

     Memorial Day is a day for us to remember the price that was paid for our freedom.

Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard.  ~Revelation 3:3

     God directed the Israelites to celebrate a “Memorial Day” to help them remember major events in their history.  Passover was celebrated each year to commemorate their miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt. When Jesus ate His last Passover meal, He instituted a new memorial to commemorate the deliverance that He would accomplish on the cross for all of us who believe.  He shared the bread and wine with his disciples and instructed them “do this in memory of Me.”   Jesus won the war against death and sin.  He paid the cost for our salvation.

     Once a year we celebrate Memorial Day, but for a Believer, everyday is a day to remember the One who died so that we could be free.

     Can you sing "I'm a Believer?"