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   Due to the nature of the military mission in Iraq, my small military branch, the Military Police Corps, has had a very high casualty rate out of proportion to its size.  When I returned from my most recent military tour in Iraq in 2006, there were 14 people from my brigade who would never again have the opportunity to joyfully greet loved ones.  There were 14 sets of family and friends whose lives were forever changed when they received the word that another soldier – their soldier - had died.  Died while serving the people that make up the United States of America, and in the performance of military duties.

 

   The one who was the closest to me was Sergeant First Class Isaac Shawn Lawson, a 35 year old professional non-commissioned officer from Sacramento, California.  He had a love of life and the military, a positive attitude, a very competent career, and a smile that would light up his whole face.  On June 5, 2006, an explosive device hit his vehicle and within the space of two minutes he was dead.  His wife, Suzette, and his three daughters and three stepsons joined the ranks of scores of families throughout our history who are forced unwillingly begin a new chapter in their lives. 

   George Orwell wrote, “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”  To commemorate that willingness to protect and sacrifice, our nation has two key holidays in our national calendar – Memorial Day in May, and Veteran’s Day in November.  The first holiday honors those whose sacrifice was the supreme one; the second one honors those who sacrifice in many other ways and stand ready to pay the supreme sacrifice on behalf of others.  Memorial Day is on Monday, May 26th, and we would all do well to take the time to remember and to pray for those families who on that day will be most deeply aware of the cost of freedom and of the sacrifices that are made by our military service members every single day.

 

   Someone has said that freedom isn’t cheap, and Thomas Jefferson said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.  We must all remember that freedom is not free, and while we may not experience a great cost personally, we mustn’t forget that there are others who do so on our behalf, and they are worthy of honor and esteem for it.  The danger is that we haven’t personally paid a great price, and so we take our freedom for granted.  The blessing of true freedom, however, cannot be held without a price.  It has never come freely, not even two thousand years ago.  It was not the Stars and Stripes, but the Scars and Stripes that Jesus Christ bore on the hill of Calvary, that bring the ultimate freedom to countless scores of human beings.  A multitude of people who transcend language, ethnicity, national boundaries, and even time itself, gladly and joyfully stand and proclaim that the freedom that they enjoy in Jesus Christ is gained because of the Supreme Sacrifice that Jesus paid for them.    Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ gave us a small idea about the suffering that Christ went through physically, but that only scratches the surface.  He paid the sinner’s debt that is rightly owed to a Holy God – as if He Himself was the adulterer, the liar, the thief, the murderer, or the proud or unthankful person.  And then, victorious, He finished the ultimate fight and came forth triumphant, holding the scepter of authority and the crown of victory over death, sin, hell, and the grave.  I am free!  Not just because I am an American, but even more so because my sin is not counted against me.  I am forgiven!  And as much as I love and serve my country where I live and am free, much more do I now love and serve my Savior, who died that I might have Life and Freedom.

Soli Deo Gloria!