They Gave Everything So We Could Live In Freedom

The freedoms we enjoy every day: preaching, laughing, resting, living were all purchased by boys who never came home.

Think for a moment about what this weekend holds for you. Maybe it’s the freedom to stand in a church and preach the name of Christ without fear. Maybe it’s the sound of children’s laughter ringing through your home. Maybe it’s a vacation, time carved out for rest, for joy, for life. Maybe it’s simply the quiet awareness of a life you have been blessed to build, brick by brick, alongside people you love.

Now consider this: every single one of those blessings was made possible by young men who never got to enjoy them, all so that you and I could.

And they were young. We often forget that. Ronald Reagan put it in perspective:

“It is, in a way, an odd thing to honour those who died in defence of our country, in defence of us, in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and grey haired. But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives — the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our country, for us. And all we can do is remember.” — Ronald Reagan

These were boys, not weathered generals with medals across their chests, but boys with their whole lives stretched out ahead of them; lives that were quietly, permanently closed so that ours could remain open.

1.2 million US troops have given their lives during wartime, including both combat and non-combat deaths. Behind each number is a name. Behind each name is a family. Behind each family is a grief that never fully heals, and a sacrifice that made the rest of us free.

Reagan captured the weight of their cost in words that still ring true:

“The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they who we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we — in a less final, less heroic way — be willing to give of ourselves…” ~ Ronald Reagan

Freedom isn’t the natural state of the world. Thus, we must understand that it isn’t a given but a gift. It is a gift that arrives wrapped in sacrifice, maintained by vigilance, and passed forward by those willing to pay its price.

These men paid it in full, yet what is required of us in return is far less: simply that we remember, that we be worthy, and that we not let their offering go to waste.

“Greater love has no man than this; that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank every family who sacrificed a loved one so that we could hold ours a little closer today.

Thank you for your support.

If you appreciate the work we do to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, please consider giving a gift to help us continue this work. Maranatha!