On this Grandparents’ Day, I looked to our home’s place of honor–high atop the bookshelf that my grandfather made–and there I notice two of our family’s most treasured heirlooms. One treasure is my grandmother’s family Bible; the other is the flag that draped the casket of my husband’s grandfather. But, on this particular day, both of these items meld together to somehow represent a bigger, more unified message…a blessing and a covering that we will be honored to pass down to our children and grandchildren.
Freedom.
In addition to being Grandparents’ Day, today is also September 11…the ten year anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. As I look today upon these items that crown our bookcase–symbols of our strong, proud heritage–I see so much more than hand-me-downs…so much more than family traditions. I see the very Foundation that we are to build our lives on and the Foundation that our country was formed on…the Word of God. I also see our blood-bought freedom..Jesus’ blood that was spilled to free us from our sins…and the blood of thousands upon thousands of men and women who have willingly stood in the gap and given their lives so that we can continue to live and worship freely in this great country of ours.
And what is it about our country that makes it so great? It’s great because it was formed on the backs of men and women who were willing to fight–to die–in order to worship our God the way He called them to worship. It was borne for the very heart of God by their courage, by their faith, by the shedding of their blood. Yes, freedom always comes at a cost. It’s never pretty. It’s always bloody. For nothing can be brought into it’s fullness of being without blood being shed.
As hard as it is to understand such a massive, senseless tragedy as the terrorist attacks that took place 10 years ago today, I know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). While we may never understand this side of Heaven how something so terrible could be used for an eventual, greater good, I know that God was not caught unaware and I know that His Word is true. I trust that His mighty hand is still upon us – whether we deserve it or not.
Both as a country and as a people, we have strayed so far over the past several decades…so far from our Source, so far from our Foundation, so far from the Truth that has kept us free. We have taken the blood of our countrymen and, moreover, the blood of our Savior for granted. We have failed to remember. How do we turn it around?
“This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls…” – Jeremiah 6:16
God has already shown us the way; it’s time for us to remember to walk in it. I keep hearing the phrase, “We Will Never Forget.” And the significance…the weightiness of those words haunt me. I pray they are true. I pray we never forget to acknowledge, thank, honor, and praise the Lord for all He is and for all He has done. Let us never forget the healing and hope and restoration that is found in the blood shed by Christ. And in the blood of the martyrs who are dying daily all over this world for refusing to deny Christ, and the blood of the men and women in the armed forces who are protecting our right to live and worship freely, and for the blood of all the emergency workers and all of the innocents who lost their lives on 9/11. Let not one drop of any of this blood be spilled in vain. I pray that our Bibles begin to open once again. I pray that we return to the Solid Rock upon which this country was founded. It’s time to remember, to really remember, the paths we have been shown, and to begin, once again, to walk in them. God bless America.
220 Gal 