GRATITUDE 230 A Veteran's Day Reflection

Like a troop of hungry men, these elderly gentlemen lined up with their trays, waiting patiently for their meal. K and W had joined America's celebration by offering a free meal to any United States veteran. As these elderly men shuffled along, cafeteria women slopped free helpings of chicken and stuffing and turnip greens on their plates, a kind yet meager attempt to thank these men for all they did for our country.   I marveled at all these men, proudly wearing hats that told of their service in wars gone by. Did this cafeteria style line take them back to the days when they lined up for a meal, hungry and tired after their shift fighting in the trenches? Or perhaps they were remembering the meager rations they shared with men who lost their lives alongside them. These men, each with a story to tell, no doubt, deserves a free meal, and so much more for their service of America.

I wish I could sit across from each man and hear his story of war. To eat our plates of chicken and stuffing together and let him me of the losses he saw, the sacrifices he made, the fears he had to conquer. To hear him tell with pride why it was worth it. Why America was worth it. Veteran's day fills my eyes with tears and my heart with gratitude for all these men and the ones fallen did for freedom. For justice. For America.

As my mind lingers in the cafeteria, my heart draws me to another meal, another celebration. The day that we, the eternally free, will celebrate our hero. He is the only veteran in this eternal battle for the freedom of a people he loved, a people held captive by sin and by a terrible enemy. At the party of all parties, he will set the meal before us. And Oh how I long to hear him tell his story. All the sacrifices of all the wars the world has ever known couldn't amount to the loss he took in laying down his own life, in losing his Father's approval, in taking on the wrath that sin deserved, to win this eternal battle. To defeat Satan and death and sin and rescue his people. This Hero deserves a cosmic celebration and that is just what he will have.

You see, the lives of the men in K and W and the ones America lost are telling the greater story of the greatest Hero. And just like those elderly men shuffling along with their free servings of banana pudding would tell us it was worth, so our hero will tell us THE WAR WAS WORTH IT. FREEDOM was worth it. JUSTICE was worth it. HIS KINGDOM and HIS PEOPLE were worth it. On that great Veteran day, no doubt, our hearts will fill gratitude, our eyes with tears, and we will bow before the HERO, saying with voice, WORTHY IS THE LAMB WHO WAS SLAIN!