Memorial Day – Mourning Our “Enemies” Deaths
So with love firmly rooted within us, what if we used the same selfless bravery to save ‘enemy’ lives instead of taking them? And not just during wartime. What if we used our extra resources to help rebuild the hospitals that have been bombed as a result of war? What if we took our vocations overseas and helped bring education to children who have never seen a school, nor know what one is? What if we invited international students into our homes for holidays? What if we made a lifestyle of welcoming others (neighbors, near and far) in? What if we determined to find more commonalities than differences with those we label as enemies? What if everyone committed to loving and getting to know the foreigners on their block? Then, when wars break out or resume, we no longer see ‘enemies’ but we see our neighbors’ families and friends struggling to keep their families safe.
Memorial Day and the Sacrificed
Still I find myself drawing back when I hear some politician declare that those who died in war “sacrificed their lives for freedom” or democracy or whatever. They didn’t sacrifice themselves. They didn’t lay down on an altar and plunge a knife in their own heart. Not only was it not their intention to kill themselves in sacrifice, it was not their intention to place themselves in someone else’s hands to be killed. No, they didn’t sacrifice themselves.
They were sacrificed. Someone else did the deed. Even before they faced that final encounter with a bullet or bomb’s blast, a head of state or group of politicians decided to sacrifice the soldiers who ended up dead. They were the ones who determined that a certain cause was worth the lives of the soldiers who would eventually die.
We are made to be… more… Aren’t we?
More than accountants. More than teachers. More than even missionaries or ministers. More. We are more than our professions might dictate.
Who can look at an apple and not worship God? Who can look at an Apple and not worship God?
Yes, the simplest natural product and the most sophisticated digital product both provoke and promote worship. As we’re more used to the idea of nature inciting us to worship God, let me give you five ways technology can help us to worship Him.
The ABC’s of Being ‘One Another’
Agree with One Another (1 Cor. 1:10)
Bear with One Another (Eph. 4:2)
Comfort One Another (2 Cor. 13:11)
Devour not One Another (Gal. 5:15)
Some Canadians claim new currency smells like maple syrup
To some, the allure of money is irresistible. But even the most frugal spender may be drawn to Canada’s new plastic bills if the rumors are true: a significant number of Canadians claim the new currency smells like maple syrup.