A Day to Remember

This is an embarrasing confession: this is the first Remembrance Day that has meant something to me. I never like November 11 before today. I hate fighting and I hate war. I could never understand why we would honour those who fought. I guess three things changed my view ("three things" - it's going to be a sermon!):

First of all, my grandad is in the hospital. "They" say he won't live much longer. I have been thinking about his life. Today, I wondered, for the first time, "did Grandad want to fight?" The obvious answer was, "no." He's a peaceful man. Then I realized that he needed to fight for peace. I know that all of this may seem so simple, but I had never been able to get past, "I hate war" to think more deeply about it.

Secondly, knowing that the politically correct thing to do when my students asked me today, "why are celebrating war? Isn't war bad?" was not to say, "Yeah, I hate war" caused me to think about my answers and try to say something intelligent.

Thirdly, Chris and I did a Bible Study yesterday that spoke about the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross for us. I was reminded of the ugly price that Jesus had to pay for our peace.

Thank you Jesus, thank you Grandad, thank you everyone who paid the price for my freedom and peace.