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Armistice Day / Veterans Day

Sunday, November 11th, 2007

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Today we celebrate Veterans Day in the US. Other parts of the world celebrate a similar holiday known as Remembrance Day. Wherever it is celebrated, and however it’s called, it’s a day of remembrance of those who have fought against tyranny and for freedom.

World War I — known at the time as “The Great War” & “the war to end all wars” — officially ended on June 28, 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles was signed in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. The fighting had actually ended seven months earlier when an agreement was reached between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on November 11, 1918; it was to happen at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

Originally, the day was known as Armistice Day in the US, instituted by President Woodrow Wilson.

On that day let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.

The name was changed to its current name in 1954 by a proclamation of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…

The words of those proclamations call us to honor the men and women of the Armed Forces, something that has been somewhat lessened in the years since the World Wars. To many, Veterans Day is just another holiday that give many a day off from work or school, marked by big sales at retail stores. That really is a shame.

We as a society tend to forget those things we haven’t directly experienced. And that’s too bad because humanity is rather unique in that we can pass knowledge down to our descendants, but we often fall short because of the difficulty in relating the impact events have on us to those who haven’t experienced what we are trying to relate.

While I did not experience either of the World Wars directly, I did spend some time in uniform, and being in a position where I could have been sent to fight helped me to better appreciate what others have been called to do.

Yeah, I’ve been on a history kick lately. I have just been struck many times lately by the way we take things for granted and don’t appreciate what others have done to enable us to enjoy what we now have. I choose to remember, and I choose to be thankful for those who have sacrificed all on my behalf.

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Real Family History

Sunday, November 4th, 2007

I’ve been working on tracking down some of my ancestors lately, and there’s one thing that really, really sticks out to me — for most people the sense of who we are and what we’ve accomplished doesn’t stick around very long after we’re gone.

I look at the names of my grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on, and I have no idea who some of these people are nor what they did in life nor what was important to them. My Mom’s mother lived across the street for us until she died in the late ’60’s, but I can’t say I knew her well. Grandma Thornton lived close by too, and I remember spending a lot of time with her, but my recollection of her is pretty fuzzy. She died when I was 12, and knowing how my own boys were able to understand things around them at my age helps me to understand why I don’t remember her better. Both my grandpas were gone before I was born, so what I knew was told to me by my parents, and that was pretty sparse.

For most people, if you go back three or four generations, even the barest of details is difficult to unearth: Where were they born? Who were their siblings? Who were their friends? Whom did they marry, and why? How many children did they have? What difficulties did they face through life? The record of their life history is reduced little more than a few pertinent dates, if that. And that’s sad.

My own kids didn’t have much opportunity to know my parents; Dad was gone before Emily was born, and the accursed Alzheimer’s had made Mom pretty much unknowable. I’ve tried to help them know Mom & Dad a little through stories I share about them, but there’s a huge gap between what I can tell my kids about Mom & Dad and what was truly important to Mom & Dad. For that matter, I can’t honestly say that I know what was truly important to Mom & Dad, because that was something that was never discussed. They were busy raising nine kids, and did what they could to pass their values & morals on to me and the rest of the family, but all of that is colored and distorted by how I processed all that through the years. I’m left with my impressions of them and a handful of stories and photos.

Very few people are truly good communicators. It’s a difficult thing to articulate one’s thoughts, feelings & desires to someone directly and have them really understand. It’s more difficult still to do that indirectly, to someone one or two generations removed. It’s pretty close to impossible if you don’t set out to do that intentionally, and for most people… Well, life is pretty much all-consuming for us in this day and age, and I’m sure it was even more so in days past. There’s a lot of stuff to fill out in Maslow’s Hierarchy before you are able to make time for leaving a legacy.

I don’t know if I’m just weird, or if I have too much time on my hands to think about things like this or what, but I don’t want my kids and their kids to not know me and Yvonne. So I’m going to set out to leave a history behind. Most of it will be pretty boring — just as my parents’ and grandparents’ stories were likely pretty boring — but what I wouldn’t give to have a better understanding of who they were. I don’t have any specific plans, but I will come up with something by the end of this week, and will report back. I’d encourage anyone reading this to come up with your own plan, and leave a legacy for your kids, and grandkids, and great-grandkids. They’ll love you for it.

After posting that last night, this morning’s devotional focused on Psalm 90; I thought parts were very fitting to the subject at hand;

You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.

You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.

The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?

Posted in Old Things, Personal Growth, The Deep, The Kids | Comments Closed

Elijah Page

Thursday, July 12th, 2007

It’s a little strange, all the hand wringing going on in Sioux Falls this week over the execution of Elijah Page. It was scheduled for last night, and they went through with it. No last minute reprieve, no last minute change of mind. But also no last words & no apologies to the victim’s family. He was pronounced dead at 10:11 last night.

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Page was convicted and sentenced to death in 2002 for his part in the murder of Chester Poage near Spearfish, SD. In 2005, Page fired his lawyer and dropped his appeals to stay his execution or have his sentence commuted to life; essentially giving up and wanting to commit state-sponsored suicide. The execution was scheduled for August of 2006, but got delayed on a technicality. Having that technicality now sorted out, the state is once again ready to pull Page’s plug, so to speak.

I guess I’ve never really had much concern over the death penalty. It’s been part of human civilization for centuries, and when properly administered, I think it works as a good deterrent to serious crime. But there are times I have trouble with the death penalty, when there are questions about the guilt of the condemned. But in Page’s case, he’s admitted to what he did, what he did was beyond horrible, and even he agrees that the death penalty is his just desserts.

Part of me says that Page’s punishment fits his crime, so let’s just get it over with and put it behind us. But another part of me says, “Not so fast.” And that part of me seems to be in agreement with the people who are doing the most hand wringing this week. They tend to be a very vocal group, acting as self-appointed consciences for those don’t oppose the death penalty or are ambivalent. What I find curious is that the vast majority of that very vocal group tend to be just as strident in their support of keeping the practice of abortion legal in the US.

There seems to be an amazing disconnect in these people; they will bend over backward in support of “a woman’s right to choose”. They say that what a woman does with her body is her business, and since that unborn baby is inside her body, she can decide what to do with it. Period. Anybody disagreeing with what she does with her body is worse than… well just really bad. The abortion doesn’t harm anybody else in the process, they tell us, so why should anybody bother? And besides, they say, everybody knows that bringing an unwanted life into the world is just cruel — just look at how bad things are — we’re doing this kid a favor by putting it out of its misery before the misery starts. And as for any rights that the baby might have, “pish posh,” they say. “What rights?”

What I’d like to ask these people is how that differs — aside from the obvious — from Elijah Page’s situation. Page wants to end his life… It’s his body, so what he does with it is his business. Nobody else is harmed by his wish to be put to death being fulfilled. Besides, he is guilty — by his own admission — of crimes that the State of South Dakota says are worthy of the death penalty.

In Page’s case, I’d like to say, let’s get it over with, but I hesitate. I personally know the forgiveness offered through Christ’s sacrifice, and I pray that Elijah Page has had a chance to learn of that forgiveness — and if not, that he’ll have that opportunity soon. A deathbed conversion does have a place in Christianity, and has good Biblical support; consider Jesus’ comments to the thief hanging on the cross next to his. “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”Luke 23:43.

We as humans like to categorize our sins, rank them according to our perception of their severity and how many sins we’ve committed, then compare our standing on that scale to others. And to some it makes sense to try to counterbalance their sins with the good things — anti-sins. But the problem is that our own categories and our own rankings are not God’s. We don’t know the mind of God, although we like to think we do. “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23. “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” James 2:10. What the Bible tells us is that in God’s eyes, a sin is a sin. If we screw up in one place, we might as well have screwed them all up. Why? Because sin is disobedience to God, and God expects his followers to be blameless in His sight.

So, if that’s true, we’re all in trouble, right? Yes and No. It is true that none of us can achieve God’s favor by our own efforts. That is the sad truth. But if we admit our shortcomings — our sin — and by faith we trust in God’s mercy and the sacrificial substitutionary death of Christ Jesus, we can see God’s favor. That is the one hope that we all have, the one hope that Elijah Page had, and the one thing that I pray he was able to understand before his death.

Page was a very fortunate man in knowing the day and the hour of his death. For the rest of us, that is unknown. Don’t risk losing your eternal life in exchange for what little you think can be gained in this life by thumbing your nose at God. It’s a terrible gamble with terrible consequences for those who choose wrongly.

Posted in Personal Growth, The Deep, The World | Comments Closed

Remember D-Day

Wednesday, June 6th, 2007

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Today, June 6, is the 63rd anniversary of D-Day; the Battle of Normandy Beach. I’m not a military history buff by any stretch of the imagination, but I do know what June 6 means, and can’t think of the sacrifice made by so many men without getting choked up. Almost 1.5 million Allied forces involved in the invasion, against 380,000 Nazi soldiers at Normandy. Over 57,000 Allied soldiers killed, another 180,000 injured or missing. All in one single military operation. Makes the four years in Iraq look like a drop in the bucket.

I won’t try to summarize what happened that day, but if you’re interested in learning something about it, here are a couple of good sources: Go to Normandy1944.info and click on Veteran Stories; some fascinating tales there. Also, PBS has a nice American Experience section on D-Day. There’s a tourist-oriented site operated by the French; NormandieMemoire.com, and don’t forget the ever informative Wikipedia.

Here is something interesting; the audio of the prayer broadcast by Franklin D. Roosevelt on that fateful day. Incredible words (a transcript of FDR’s speech can be found here.)

Posted in The Deep, Travel | Comments Closed

The Zero-Carbon-Footprint Fallacy And The Sabbath

Monday, May 7th, 2007

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Exodus 20:8-11 (ESV)

The Sixth Commandment makes it pretty clear; followers of the Lord Jehovah are to set aside the seventh day; don’t work, don’t make your kids do your work, don’t make your slaves do your work… No working. By extension, you don’t do anything that will make work necessary for others.

As Christians, we’ve altered the seventh day thing to the first day; lots of reasons behind that, and I won’t go into that right now. The point is that we as followers of God are to set aside one day of the week and make it holy. We’re not to fill it with stuff that will distract us from the holiness of the day, and we’re not to create an atmosphere where others will be distracted from the holiness of the day. The trouble is that in today’s society, the Sabbath Keeper is in the extremest minority, and the world around us goes on as if Sunday is just another day. And all of that makes keeping the Sabbath more than just a little difficult; it seems that even if we do keep it holy, it just doesn’t make any difference whatsoever. Given Yvonne’s line of work — a labor and delivery nurse — she occasionally finds herself working on Sundays. Babies don’t know the difference between Sunday and Monday; they come out when they’re good and ready.

And even if we do little more than go to church, then return home, have lunch then nap all afternoon, we’re still using electricity, which is produced at electric power plants that are manned 24/7, we’re still using water, which we get by way of the water treatment facility that is manned 24/7, we’re still driving places using public streets which are maintained by crews that are working 24/7 and policed by cops 24/7. And we live in a city/state/nation that is protected by the world’s finest military, which is of course on duty 24/7. And on, and on, and on, and on…

I was reminded of all that in reading about a guy in New York who has decided that he and his family are going to live for the next year with zero impact on the environment. My first thought is, “this guy is full of you-know-what.” In one of his blog posts he says,

… we’ll get as close as we can to creating no trash (so no takeout), emitting no carbon dioxide (so no driving or flying) and pouring no toxins in the water (so no laundry detergent), as well as mitigating impacts we can’t avoid (so planting trees). Not to mention: no elevators, subways, buying products in packaging, plastics, air-conditioning, TV or toilet paper.

First off, that was written in a post about how he and his wife now have worms in their apartment to take care of some of their organic wastes. Cool; I have actually looked into doing that for my family. But the question is, how did he get those worms? Probably by mail or internet order. And how did those worms get to his apartment? He definitely didn’t go down to Central Park and dig them up, so they likely were delivered by USPS, UPS or FedEx via a relay of planes & trucks, and probably wrapped up securely in a plastic package to keep the worms & their bedding nice and moist. And although they probably walk to the store to buy their food — that’s possible, and almost necessary, in New York where almost no one owns a car — how does that food get to the conveniently-located store? Through a similar relay of fossil fuel burning vehicles, of course.

The problem for Mr. Beavan is similar to that faced by the Sabbath Keeper; the deck is severely stacked against him. The only way for the “no impact man” to succeed is to travel back in time to the time of his conception and somehow stop it from happening. To try to live with zero impact in urban America in 2007 is as impossible as being a true Sabbath Keeper in 2007.

Given the futility of doing either — attempting to live a zero impact or attempting to keep the Sabbath — is it truly futile? I guess it comes down to true motivations and true intent. If I do what I can to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, God will see my efforts and will be pleased with that. And keeping the Sabbath will bring me closer to God. It won’t increase my chances of getting into Heaven — that’s already assured by the sacrifice of Christ Jesus — but it is obedience to what God has commanded, which pleases God. And when I don’t do the things that I do on other days, I focus more on Yvonne and the kids. Finally, by extension, my actions — or inactions — will be seen by others who may follow suit, and if enough people follow we can perhaps affect the social environment in which we live.

And while I don’t agree with Beavan’s viewpoint that his actions are necessary to save the planet from global warming (more on that later), I have to congratulate him for going against the grain and doing what he sees is right, regardless of how difficult it is. There isn’t a parallel spiritual aspect to what he is doing, but this approach is getting plenty of attention, which will likely result in other people following suit. Sure, I think there is a bit of grandstanding going on, which is effectively increasing his environmental impact, but he is doing what he can to do and helping others to do the same. Reducing his environmental impact won’t save the planet, but using less is always good, and reading through some of his blog posts shows that his experiment is definitely having a positive impact on his family, and that is always a good thing.

Posted in Faith & Worship, The Deep | Comments Closed

bound4Life

Friday, August 11th, 2006

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bound4Life; “What does it sound like when 10 million people pray for the same thing?”This site gives me Holy Spirit chills. This organization is now focusing its efforts in support of the abortion ban here in South Dakota, a newly passed law which has been referred to a public vote and will be on the ballot this November. While many see the abortion issue as political in nature, I firmly believe it is spiritual, and the only way the November referrendum will pass is with God’s help. We need to pray.
I had never heard of bound4life before this morning, but it reminds me of one of my favorite verses; Job 40:3-5;

Job Promises Silence
3 Then Job answered the LORD and said:
4 “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.
5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”

How often do we speak in our prayers when we should be silent? Watermark has an excellent song called Still on their album Constant that talks about our need to be silent before God. We all know Psalm 46:10 well enough, but we don’t heed its words well enough.

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South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families

Sunday, March 26th, 2006

How morally bankrupt can you get. This organization calls itself South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, and their main goal is to keep abortion legal in South Dakota. Is it just me, or how can someone claim to have a healthy family when they are willing to kill their children?

Why is there such a distinction drawn between a child who is still in the womb and a child that has been born? The same people who insist that there must be abortion on demand seem to be the same ones who are the most disturbed when a news story about children being killed comes up.
I need to remember that those with whom I disagree on points like this are not my enemies, but people in need of God’s grace. And my prayers.

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