Independence Day
There are a couple Holidays that I wear very close to my heart, and this is one of them.
The 4th always causes me to think of the time I was in Turkey. We were shooting missiles into a mountain side. There was heavy artillery miles back firing over our heads and into the same hill. Fighters were flying over and shooting even bigger missiles. Bombers (some of them so high we never saw them) were going over dropping everything short of the nuke. This mountain side was reduced to a cloud of dust. Dirt flying everywhere, nonstop explosions, sonic booms. If you wanted to see the fighter you heard coming from the right, you had to look left because it was already gone. Everything was shaking. The ground, the air, me. It was exciting. It was fun. It was peace time. I was just a 19 year old Marine doing what Marines did during peacetime. I was also clueless.
I took my freedom for granted back then and, I suppose to some degree, I still do. That experience and many others like it taught me what a battle ground looks like and smells like but not what it really feels like. It gave me a small window into the reality of war and a tremendous amount of respect for the people who have been there. I was taught to fight (and willingly give my life) for the freedom of my fellow Americans but I never had to do that. A lot of others have done just that for my freedom though and it started with a few radical thinkers that had the guts to back up their beliefs.
As I celebrate our freedom with you, I can't help but feel a great deal of somber reverence toward the many people that have secured that freedom. After all, isn't that what we're supposed to do? It's a time of happy celebration. A time to recognize what we truly have and how we got it. It's also a time to honor those who gave it to us. I can't fully understand what was given for me because I never paid that price myself. It's an act that is so deeply ingrained in American tradition it can never be taken away. The giving of one's life so that others might live.
Is it any mistake, then, that this mirrors the greatest sacrifice that was ever made? Jesus Christ went willingly into the hands of the people who would beat him and nail him with spikes to a cross. People who would stand there and ridicule him as he hung in agony and slowly died. This physical death has secured my life and my freedom. Real freedom. Not just here but in Heaven. Not just now but forever.
Celebrate the good that we do have here. Honor those who have gone before us and fought for our lives. Honor those, also, who are there right now and pray for their safety. These are all good and proper. Let's not forget, though, to honor Him who paid the ultimate price for our eternal reward.
Happy Independence Day,
Chaplain Rob