"Remember Them Today"
Before Moses died he anointed Joshua as his successor. I found it easy over the years to forget just what that meant for young Joshua. He was not to be a great prophet, or to receive the next 10 commandments. Joshua became the "general" of an army. His job was to go into the promise land and conquer it for God's people. In short, he was a soldier. He fought many battles. He killed many men and he took many cities such as the one in our passage today; Jericho. He was at the front line swinging away. After a lifetime of fighting, he retired as a veteran of war. He was laid to rest at the age of 110. As we remember Joshua today, let us also remember more recent veterans. I read in the newspaper this past week that our veterans of WWI are dying at a rate of 1000 a day. The youngest of these vets are in their 80's. They gave all they had for the cause of freedom and now the time is too soon coming when there will be no living survivors. We must remember them today.
I have a rifle in my basement. It sets against the wall in a corner behind some boxes. When my parents moved from their home in Indiana to their home in Florida, the rifle was taken from about the mantle over our fireplace and given to me. It's my Dad's. When he was a young man in the Navy at the end of the war his ship pulled into Tokyo. There were stacks and stacks of captured weapons. Dad and all of the other sailors were invited to take one. It is a reminder to me still of a time when my father was not at home with a family. It is a reminder of a time when he was put in harm's way. It is a reminder that my Dad is a veteran of a time when war was far too common and captivated a nation with rationing, and sacrifice and funerals. We must remember them today.
I despise war but admire the men and women who fight for their country. Today we also remember the men and women of Fort Hood in Texas who, just last week, were preparing to deploy to the place of war when a gunman, one of their own, shot and killed twelve soldiers. When the injured were interviewed about the event and how they helped one another during the tragedy they replied, "It's what any soldier would do." We must remember them today.
Sharing in Faith,
Rev. Craig W. Duke
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