A Day of Remembrance

Field of Honor (where my brother is buried)

Statue of Civil War Soldier dedicated in 1922 to the
memory of the Civil War Veterans buried here

Memorial Day was first established nationwide May 5, 1868. Then know as Decoration Day (might I add we often called it Decoration Day when I was young) the nation decorated the graves of those they lost in the Civil War as an official act of remembrance. The practice has expanded beyond decorating the headstones of just the Civil War veterans to veterans of other wars and the friends & family members that have gone on before us. This can also be a time of sadness as we think of those we can no longer see in this life. To the believers in Christ Paul offers this hope:

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18

If you are interested in learning more about Memorial Day, you can click here
here to go to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Web Site.

Please Use The Other Door

Acts 16: 6-10
speaks of Paul and his companions traveling through Phrygia and Galatia. He and the rest of the members of his missionary team had planned on working in Asia Minor. They intended to preach in Bithynia in Mysia, but this was not in God’s plan for them at that time. In fact it says that the Holy Spirit kept Paul and the team from entering Asia. Verse 9 states that during the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us." After the dream “We (the missionary team) got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”

Someone very dear to me had a similar situation. Her desire was set on traveling to Nigeria to work in an orphanage, conducting a Vacation Bible School and working with the children one on one. Her heart was broken when she was inadvertently left off of a invitation from the Nigeria government to visit their country (the only way you can visit, at least as a missionary). Her heart was right, her desire to serve was strong, and for a time circumstances pointed to this being the right thing to do, and yet it wasn’t in God’s plan. There’s an often used phrase that says when one door closes another one opens. I would say to her, to look for her Macedonia. Does it seem like you’ve hit a dead end in your life? Look for your Macedonia.