She wanted them to remember.
She wanted them to know what it is all about.
My mama was patriotic, but not in a sweet, cloying way. She had sent daddy off to WWII. She understood what the cost of freedom could be.
My sons and I were visiting her and Daniel was in the band learning to play trumpet, which his younger brothers Andrew and Jonathan thought was just great. Granma Susie got out her American flag and rounded up the boys.
She led her “parade,” Daniel followed her, then the younger boys joined in. He played the trumpet and she held the flag high. They marched around the house a couple of times.
She had explained to them that the Fourth of July was more than cooking out, hot dogs, hamburgers and having fun. “This is the day the United States signed the Declaration of Independence from England in 1776 — a long time ago. And we fought for our freedom to be a free nation.”
“With guns?” the little boys asked.
“Yes,” Granma Susie answered, “and many people gave up their lives to fight for us to be free.”
On vacation I got into a conversation with a family also staying where we were and enjoying the pool. He shared that he was a medic in the war in Iraq, and that he would never be the same. “I couldn’t take seeing injured children,” he said, “and, of course, our soldiers ... so I didn’t pursue being an EMT or paramedic when I got home. It changed me. All that blood I saw...”
They had actually had a car wreck the day before and the sight of the crushed car and the blood from the injuries, and the frightened children, “took me back and I did what I could. but I was trembling. I’m still shaken up.”
“Can I pray with you?” I asked. “Sure,” he said.
I prayed with him — he, his son, our granddaughter Addie, and me standing in the hot tub joining hands, and praying for his friends in the hospital recovery and for his family.
“My wife is on the praise team at church,” he shared.
Jesus said he came to “... Set the oppressed free.” Luke 4:18. Not politically; spiritually from evil, Satan and hell!
We are no longer slaves to sin! “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36. True eternal freedom!
A cross stood as the battleground, Jesus Christ’s eternal precious blood was spilled, and He gave His life to win His victory over Satan. He rose to live again, ascended to heaven and lives today to offer us grace and forgiveness.
Accept Him.
Remember His sacrifice.
