Memorial Day

Today we attended a Memorial Day service, and our Pastor gave the address. He did an excellent job and it was a very poignant and moving service. I saw one man, I think he was a Vietnam Veteran, leaning against a crutch, barely able to limp along. It was very cold outside but I figured compared to him I had nothing to complain about. I'm very thankful to God for those who sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have!

Before we left the cemetary I visited the graveside of a friend's tiny baby. Her name is Allyson Hope - and after her death the Hope Foundation was formed at our church. We minister to families who are grieving the death of a child and take the opportunity to send them some encouraging materials, and present the gospel. I saw one young couple there, sobbing over a child's grave. I left with a lump in my throat and the determination to be a little more thankful for my own precious children.

As we were driving out of the cemetary, a man driving in front of us stepped out of his vehicle to hand a tract to another man who was walking among the graves. They chatted for a brief moment, then the man who had received the tract shook his head, and handed the tract back, then walked away. I'll never forget the sight of that - a man, surrounded by the reality of death, rejecting the gospel. How heart-breakingly sad. I wanted to run after him and beg him to change his mind. I pray God will use something in his life to get through to him.

I hope this Memorial Day finds you with a thankful heart, remembering loved ones and those who have served our country and gone on before. I have an Uncle on my Dad's side who died in WW2 just two weeks before the war ended. He was only nineteen years old. I hope and pray that someone in the trenches in Italy presented the Gospel to him and that I will get to meet him in heaven some day.

In His Care ~ Beth ~