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RED, WHITE, AND (OVER THE) BLUES

6/29/2014

“Ragged Old Flag” was the title track of a studio album released by country music artist Johnny Cash on Columbia Records back in 1974. At the time, largely as a result of the Watergate scandal, America was arguably suffering through one of her lowest ever periods of national morale. Cash’s song provided a subtle reminder that our country was bigger than its current struggles and shortcomings and that people could still believe in
her.

As Independence Day approaches this year, it strikes me that Washington once again resounds with a multitude of scandals. Some of these are big and some are small; but their cumulative weight is enough to again cause many to lose heart.

For this reason, I thought I would post the lyrics to Cash’s song this day - perhaps as a way of offering reassurance to those who are a bit discouraged by the present state of affairs and/or the current direction of our country.

"RAGGED OLD FLAG"

I walked through a county courthouse square,
On a park bench, an old man was sittin' there.
I said, "Your old court house is kinda run down."
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town."

I said, "Your old flag pole is leaned a little bit,
And that's a ragged old flag you got hangin' on it."
He said, "Have a seat", and I sat down,
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town?"

I said, "I think it is."
He said "I don't like to brag,
but we're kinda proud of
That Ragged Old Flag.

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there,
When Washington took it across the Delaware.
and it got powder burned the night Francis Scott Key
sat watching it, writing ‘Say Can You See’.

"It got a rip in New Orleans,
with Packenham and Jackson tugging at its seams.
And it almost fell at the Alamo
beside the Texas flag, but she waved on though.

"She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville,
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee and Beauregard and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on
That Ragged Old Flag.

"On Flanders Field in World War I,
She got a big hole from a Bertha Gun,
She turned blood red in World War II
She hung limp, and low, a time or two,

"She was in Korea, Vietnam;
she went where she was sent
by her Uncle Sam.

"She waved from our ships upon the briny foam
and now they've about quit wavin' back here at home
in her own good land here she's been abused,
She's been burned, dishonored, denied an' refused.

"And the government for which she stands
Has been scandalized throughout the land.
And she's getting thread bare, and she's wearin' thin,
But she's in good shape, for the shape she's in.

"Cause she's been through the fire before
and I believe she can take a whole lot more.

"So we raise her up every morning
And we bring her down slow every night,
We don't let her touch the ground,
And we fold her up right.

"On second thought,
I *do* like to brag,
Cause I'm mighty proud of
That Ragged Old Flag."

Johnny Cash was right. America got beyond the difficult days of the 1970's and soon regained her sense of worth once again. And we today still have a right to be proud of that ragged old flag, and of all she represents! No, America is not a perfect country. Yes, even today, she has her share of shortcomings. But, in spite of all of this, she is still the single greatest country in the history of the world. And we are all very blessed to be a part of her!

As Denish D'souza, himself an immigrant to America from India, points out in his books, What’s So Great About America? and America: Imagine A World Without Her...

“For over two hundred years, America has been a shining city on the hill: a symbol of freedom and opportunity for the rest of the world, an inspiration for those living in abject poverty or under oppressive regimes, a refuge and a home, a grand experiment in freedom, a prosperous land of opportunity, a force for good in times of evil, and a force for order in times of chaos.”

Never forget these things. And never, ever let anyone make you feel ashamed of this great country that we call the United States of America!

SOURCES:

The lyrics are available at:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/johnnycash/raggedoldflag.html.

Johnny Cash’s audio rendition can be heard at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6vwXbQZvJo&feature=kp.

Denish D'souza’s website is:
http://www.dineshdsouza.com/books/.

SIGNS OF GRATITUDE

6/25/2014

Back when we were raising our three children, my wife and I would invariably play the standard games with them whenever we were travelling on vacation.  In a day and age before electronic gadgets, these games included “I Spy”, “Counting Cows” (which had to be “buried” whenever you passed a cemetery), “Beaver Clever” (counting Volkswagen Beetles), and the like.

Nowadays, whenever we go on vacation, it is usually just the two of us.  Needless to say, our trips are a bit less boisterous.  And our activities have changed as well.  We talk to one another a lot, listen to our favorite music, enjoy audiobooks, and similar such activities as we roll merrily along.

One thing we like to do these days is to show our appreciation to a group of very deserving individuals. We printed out a sign on a standard 8.5” X 11” piece of paper with the following words: THANK YOU FOR SERVING OUR COUNTRY!

As we travel along, whenever we see a car with a tag, bumper sticker, rear window sticker, or other marker identifying the driver as a veteran or active duty military personnel, we toot the horn and hold up the sign for him or her to read.

This simple little gesture has proven to be most rewarding. It almost always elicits the biggest smiles from these men and women in return. And well it should.  For without them, and their willingness to serve and sacrifice, we would not enjoy the freedoms we do today as a nation.

In your vacation travels this time of year, especially as we approach Independence Day, why not try this simple little act yourself.  You might be surprised at what a blessing it turns out to be, not only for those to whom you show it, but also for you as well.

I leave you with this well-loved and oft quoted poem, written by Charles Michael Province…

It is the Soldier, not the minister,
who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician,
who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.*

*SOURCE:  http://www.pattonhq.com/koreamemorial.html.

NOTE:   This poem is often incorrectly attributed to Father Dennis Edward O'Brien. Father O'Brien apparently sent the poem to Dear Abby, who incorrectly attributed it to him in her column.   According to Wikiquote, before his death, he was always quick to say that he had not actually written the poem, but had only sent it in by mail to Dear Abby.

Cf.: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Province.

See also: http://iwvpa.net/provincecm/.

LITTLE LOST SHEEP

6/22/2014

I have in my files an August 22, 2003 Associated Press story about the events surrounding Vacation Bible School up at Chancy Lutheran Church in Clinton, Iowa. It seems that the kids were all preparing for their grand finale production of "The Good Shepherd" as a part of their VBS week, even as guests busily slipped into their seats and checked their watches. The two special stars of the show were actually two sheep, kept in a pen outside the church.

That is when things really began to get complicated. About ten minutes before the play was to start, the sheep were out in the pen. They were until they were lost! Or rather, until they ran away!   Apparently, they just got scared, perhaps from stage fright, hopped over the fence, and lit out for parts unknown.

The play's director, Ms. Sandy Mussman, along with her own two kids, then ran all through the town, chasing the sheep. "At one point," she later reported, "we passed a lady who was out in her yard. She said, 'Did I just see what I thought I saw?'"

Eventually, they tracked one of the sheep down near the Clinton Community College.  At last report, the other one was still “on the lam” - though several people reported seeing it around town. The church's pastor was even out looking. According to Ms. Mussman, "When people asked what he was looking for, he'd say, 'A lost sheep.' Then he'd have to tell them he really was looking for a lost sheep; and that he wasn't looking for sinners."

In the finest tradition of the theater, no doubt, the show went on.  After all, the first act was fittingly titled "The Lost Sheep."

As VBS unfolds at our own church this week, I am thankful that we will not be putting on any full scale productions. That way, I won’t face what this poor pastor did. And yet, at the same time, just like Chancy Lutheran did that summer back in 2003, any time we undertake Vacation Bible School, we are, in so many respects, looking for lost sheep.

For in Matthew 9:36, Jesus likens all people - be they men, women,  boys, or girls - if they do not yet have a relationship with God through Him, to lost sheep.   In that same passage, He challenges His disciples to go out after lost people and share the Gospel with them. And this is the reason we undertake programs like Vacation Bible School.

I leave you with these words from the 15th chapter of Luke's Gospel (verse 3-7):

"Then Jesus told them this parable:  “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.

Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents…"

SOURCES: http://www.lutheransonline.com/servlet/lo_ProcServ/d
bpage=page&mode=display&gid=2006314837413656540111155
5&pg=20063394573478617801111555.

The AP Story can be found at: http://chronicle.augusta.com/
stories/2003/08/22/biz_385528.shtml.

THE “REST” OF THE WEEK

6/19/2014

In my recent blogs, I have talked about the importance of the need that we each have for an occasional period of rest and relaxation before resuming the work God has for us. When we fail to recognize this, it is often to our own detriment.

Now, like many, I have heard more than one preacher, down through the years, assert that he did not need a vacation. The reason? “Because the Old Devil never takes one!”

But the simple truth is that a careful study of the Gospels will reveal that at least ten times in His 42 month long public ministry (for an average of once per quarter), Jesus took some P.T.O. (personal time off) in order to get away from His busy schedule and to renew Himself.

So, perhaps the real question is, do we need to be patterning ourselves after the ways of the Devil or after the ways of the Lord?!

Moreover, God in His wisdom knew that even periodic trips away, by themselves, were not sufficient enough rest for full human productivity.  That is why He ordained that men and women should work six days each week and then rest on the seventh.

It is little wonder, then, that in addition to His periodic trips away, Jesus also regularly and consistently observed the Sabbath as a special day. The Gospel writers record Him attending worship, fellowshipping with others in their homes, and loving and helping others, all on the Sabbath day. Doing so, no doubt, benefitted both Him and His followers.

Wayne Presnell has a wonderful blog entry on the importance of the Sabbath for each of us as followers of Jesus.* In it, he relates a story first told by Leslie R. Flynn, author of over forty books, and Pastor Emeritus of Grace Conservative Baptist Church in Nanuet, New York (where he served for over 40 years).

Dr. Flynn told the story of seven unmarried brothers who lived together in a large house. Six went out to work each day; but one stayed home. He had the place all lit up when the other six arrived home from work.  He also had the house warm, and most importantly; he had a delicious, full-course dinner ready for his hungry brothers.

One day, the six brothers decided that the one that had been staying home should also go to work. “It’s not fair,” they said, “for one to stay home while the others slaved at a job.” So they made the seventh brother find work too.

But when they all came home the first night, there was no light; nor was there any warmth; and worst of all, there was no hearty dinner awaiting them.   And the next night, it was the same thing again:  darkness, cold, hunger.  They soon realized the error of their way and went back to their former arrangement.

Dr. Flynn goes on to remind us that, for Christians, the Lord's Day is the day of rest and worship that keeps the other six days bright, warm, and nourishing.   He then concludes with this admonition:  “When we desecrate the Lord’s Day, we only hurt ourselves.” How true.

*SOURCES: Wayne Presnell is Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Lucas, Ohio. He describes his blog as a place for “providing fresh illustrations for use in sermons, Bible Studies and talks”. He can be found online at: http://www.lucasgracebible.com/. The specific online source for his above referenced blog is at: https://pastorpresnell.wordpress.com/2012/05/.

BACK IN THE SADDLE

6/16/2014

I remember it like it was yesterday.  I grew up on a farm with lots of horses. Somewhere around age 10, I was out riding with my dad and two cousins.  We had been gone for about two hours when we rounded the curve about a quarter of a mile from our farm.

In any event, I guess the horse I was riding decided that he was ready to get on home. He took off galloping toward the barn, and before I could stop him, he threw me for a loop as he turned into our driveway. To make matters worse, he stepped on my ribs as I hit the ground! I just laid there are groaned.

And I was pretty upset. After all, I had a right to be. It did hurt, to be sure. But, in truth, my pride was wounded far more than my body.  My father, sensing this, first checked me to see if I was actually injured.  He then went and caught the horse. All the while, I was wondering what he would do. Would he punish the horse? Or just let the whole episode pass?

To my surprise, he then picked me up, dusted me off, and put me right back up on the horse. His admonition has stayed with me down through the years:  “Son, there will always be times in life when you will need to get back up in the saddle right away!”

His point, of course, was that I did not need to let my ordeal get the best of me. If I did, I would likely never ride again.  And he was right. To this day, I am thankful for what he did.  It is always critical, you see, to get back in the saddle, no matter how comfortable it might seem just to lay back down.  For, temptations to just lie on the ground notwithstanding, we were made to get up and ride, not to lie down and rest.

Of course, “Back in the Saddle” is a familiar phrase for many of us. It is the name of Gene Autry’s classic 1939 song (one that was, in fact, voted the 98th best song of the 20th century by the Recording Industry Association of America).   In 1941, a movie starring Gene Autry shared the same title. Then, in 1977, yet another group known as Aerosmith had a hit song with the same
title. Today, numerous organizations, including several equine rehabilitation programs, share this same title as well.

For most of us, however, the phrase has simply come to mean getting back into a routine, especially after a hiatus of some sort. In fact, it is not uncommon to hear someone say, after a vacation, that they are now “back in the saddle”.   For my part, having just completed a week of vacation down in Florida, this phrase now has a new relevance. As of tomorrow morning, I am now officially “back in the saddle”.

This past week, my wife and I logged over 1500 miles in eight days – first down to Atlanta to see my mother, then on to Florida to see my sister, then to Mississippi to see our son, all before heading back to Atlanta to spend one last night with my mother.

Suffice it to say that it has been a busy eight days. And it was nice to get out of the routine. But, at the same time, I do feel somewhat refreshed.  Getting away from the routine and having a chance to clear one’s head can be a very productive undertaking.  For me, at least, this past week has been fairly refreshing - especially the three days spent on the beach being lazy.

Nonetheless, tomorrow morning, I will once again “saddle ‘em up”, and then… I’ll “head ‘em up, and move ‘em out”!   And I will be better off doing this than if I had simply lain down and given up.  For, ultimately, we were not created to lie down and quit, but to stand up, mount up, and ride on. For, only then, can we ever hope to make a difference. Only then, can we ever hope to live a life that matters.

So, along with Frankie Laine (the original recorder), Liza Minnelli, Link Wray, Riders in the Sky, The Ventures, The Dead Kennedys, The Blues Brothers. The 101 Strings Orchestra. The Greenbriar Boys, Sublime, The Jackson 5, The Meteors, The Men They Couldn't Hang, Dezperadoz,, Litfiba, Oingo Boingo, Jan Rot, Johnny Western, Happy Feet Two, and the immortal Johnny Cash (all of whom have covered the original hit song), let’s all “head 'em up and move 'em out”!

Let’s get “Back in the Saddle” and go forward, fulfilling the purpose for which we were created.   In short, let’s all get up, get going, and make a difference with our God given talent and our God given lives!

A DAY AT THE BEACH

6/12/2014

As I sat at the beach earlier this past week, looking all around myself at people playing in the sand and frolicking in the waves, I could not help but be reminded of another day at the beach – one that wasn’t so happy and carefree.

For, on a hitherto unknown stretch of beach more than half a century and half a world away (at Normandy on June 6, 1944), thousands of American young men (the average age was only 19) spent their own day in the waves and on the sand.  Only, they had to fight their way ashore against savage resistance from an entrenched and brutal adversary. By comparison, my only inconvenience was the occasional cloud.

And later, when my own day at the beach was done, I made my way off the beach to a comfortable condo and soft bed just over the dunes.  Today, situated just over the hill from that other beach is a hallowed cemetery full of brave men, all resting in rough wooden coffins and covered in grass.

Each and every one of them willingly sacrificed their lives in order that I might have the freedoms that I enjoy today.  In short, my day at the beach was made possible by their day at the
beach. And I, for one, will never forget the price they paid. Never!

NOTE: In my four plus years of blogging, I do not know if I have ever received as much feedback as I have from my post last week about D-Day. I thought I would take the time today to list a few resources for those who desire to know more about that day of days.

Of course, for armchair historians, the internet is both the greatest blessing and the greatest curse of the day. For instance, in response to a query on “D-Day”, Google returned about 1,260,000,000 results, all in less than .26 seconds. That is simply awesome! But who has the time to sort through more than one and a quarter billion items?!  In light of this, where does one begin to learn more about this topic? Here are some suggestions for the average layman from an amateur WWII sleuth.

To begin with, channels like National Geographic, The History Channel, H2, Discovery, AHC (American Heroes Channel – the new name for what was once the Military Channel) and even PBS have numerous documentaries on the topic of World War Two. Many of these are one or two hour specials devoted specifically to Operation Overlord (the Allied Invasion of Nazi Occupied Europe via Normandy in June of 1944). Air times for these can be found on the respective web pages of these networks.  Most are also for sale in DVD format as well.

Some of the best documentary series are World War II in Colour (an exceptional British Production, thus the unique spelling of the word color), The Color of War, WWII in HD, Victory at Sea, and the landmark series, The World at War.  These can all be purchased fairly inexpensively online at places like eBay and/or Amazon. (A word to the wise: make certain that you are purchasing DVDs compatible with your own DVD Region. England differs from North America.)

Needless to say, as World War Two was the single biggest event in human history, books on the subject fairly abound. In my opinion, the definitive work on the subject for layman is Norman Stone’s World War Two: A Short History. Much more in depth studies exist, including works like William L. Shirer’s c. 1500 page tome, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. More readable one volume histories include John Keegan's The Second World War (at only 608 pages) and Martin Gilbert's similarly titled The Second World War (at 928 pages). (Gilbert has a companion volume on The First World War.) Norman Polmar’s works are all good, as well as varied and informative.  Studs Terkel (The Good War) also did a lot with oral histories from actual WWII veterans.

Books devoted specifically to D-Day include the classic work, The Longest Day, by Cornelius Ryan, which was later made into a movie.  Stephen Ambrose wrote several good, readable books as well - among them D-Day, Pegasus Bridge, Band of Brothers, and Citizen Soldiers.

Band of Brothers, itself, was made into an award winning mini-series by HBO. Other classic dramatic renditions include films like The Longest Day (star studded and the best of them all), The Big Red One (based on the book of the same name by Samuel Fuller detailing his own experiences invading North Africa, Sicily, and Normandy), D-Day: The Sixth of June (an old black and white film starring Robert Taylor), and, of course, the first twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan.

Lastly, web sites exist which are devoted entirely to Old Time Radio. A Google search will lead anyone interested in knowing more to wonderful first-hand accounts of the war as they unfolded. One such example can be found online at https://archive.org/details/Complete_Broadcast_Day_D-Day.

This site contains the complete, unedited radio recordings that were broadcasted on CBS and NBC back here in America while the actual landings were taking place. Listening to this, one gets the sense of what it must have been like to have sat “glued to the radio”, as it were, breathlessly awaiting any word of news from the battlefield.  Given that some 200,000 men were ultimately involved in the landings, no doubt many anxious wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters did just that.

IT’S ALL IN HOW YOU SAY IT!

6/8/2014

As vacation season unfolds, many people turn their thoughts toward the beach. Thus, I thought I would share a quick story today relating to the Sunshine State.

It seems that a man and his wife were driving their recreational vehicle across the country, and were nearing a town in Florida spelled Kissimmee. They noted the strange spelling and tried to figure how to pronounce it. They also grew more and more perplexed as they drove nearer to the town.

As they were both hungry and a little edgy from already having driven so far, in short order, an argument erupted over just how to pronounce this unfamiliar place. The husband insisted that it was pronounced “KISS-a-me”; but the wife was equally insistent that it was “kiss-a-ME”.

Since they were hungry, this only added to their irritability.  So, the man whipped the recreational vehicle off the expressway at the very next exit, and then pulled into the first available place he could find in order to get something to eat.

Once inside, though, still fuming over the disagreement and determined to prove his point, the man said to the waitress at the counter: "My wife and I have a disagreement and I hope you can settle the issue. We can't seem to be able to figure out how to pronounce the name of this place. Will you please tell me where we are and say it very slowly so that both of us can understand?"

The waitress looked at him, somewhat puzzled, and then said slowly, "Buuurrrgerrr Kiiiinnnng."

SOURCE: I first heard this classic joke when it was told by Dr. David McAlpin from the pulpit back in the 1980’s.  It occurs widely in differing forms and on various sites on the internet. Cf.  http://www.eturbonews.com/27411/where-place.

DAY OF DAYS

6/5/2014

Tomorrow, June 6th, 2014, marks the 70th anniversary of what is commonly known as “D-Day”, which was one of the most significant days in the entire twentieth century. On that day, the Allied powers invaded Nazi-occupied Europe along the coasts of Normandy, France.

As the few remaining veterans of that eventful day, each and every one a hero, gather in France for a time of remembrance, I thought I would share a story from one of their number who has now passed on.

Sergeant Leonard Lomell received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions at Pointe du Hoc. Taking “the point”, as it is commonly known, was crucial in the Normandy landings.  It is a promontory protruding out between the landing beaches codenamed Utah and Omaha.

The Axis powers had fortified Pointe du Hoc with numerous concrete casements and large gun emplacements, allowing them rain down lethal fire on either of the two beaches once the Allies attempted to wade ashore. For these reasons, capturing and taking these guns out of action was deemed mission critical.

To take them, American soldiers had to land and then scale 100 foot tall cliffs while under heavy enemy fire. One of those soldiers was Leonard Lomell.  Here is his story, as recorded by Ronald J. Drez in Voices of D-Day: The Story of the Allied Invasion Told by Those Who Were There (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1994)…

Lieutenant McBride, Captain Slater, and one-third of our company went down as their boat swamped. We landed and fired off our rockets, the ramp goes down, and I'm the first guy shot in the company, a machine gun through the right side. Then I stepped off into water over my head, and the guys pulled me out and we just rushed to the base of that cliff and grabbed any rope we could get, and up the cliff we went just as fast as we could go. The wound wasn't bad; it had gone through the muscle on my right side.

Captain Baugh of Company E was the first person I ran across on top. He had been shot and had his hand practically blown off, and wasn't in such good shape. We kept right on going saying, "Captain, we'll send you back a medic." My platoon couldn't wait for nothing; we had our assignment, and we in Company D depended on a lot of speed. My second platoon went ahead in a rush. We had some confrontations coming out of shell craters, and one of my sergeants, Morris Webb, as we were charging out of a shell crater, a machine gun opened up, and he jumped back into the crater right on top of one of his men's bayonet that went right through his side.

We didn't stop; we played it just like a football game, charging hard and low. We went into the shell craters for protection, because there were snipers around and machine guns firing at us, and we'd wait for a moment, and if the fire lifted, we were out of that crater and into the next one. We ran as fast as we could over to the gun positions -- to the one that we were assigned to. There were no guns in the positions!

We decided that they must have an alternate position, and we thought, well, we'll hear them. Maybe we'll see some evidence of the movement, but we never did hear them.

There was an anti-aircraft position off to our right several hundred yards, and a machine gun off to the left, and there was another machine gun that we had gotten on our way in. The anti-aircraft gun was firing flat trajectory at us, and by the time we got to the road, I only had about a dozen men left. We were up on top of the cliffs around 7:30.

The road was our next objective. We were supposed to get into the coastal road and set up a roadblock, which we did. We were the first ones at the coastal road. We were in the midst of doing this when all of a sudden we heard this noise and clanking, and we laid low in our ditch on this side of the road, and here came this very large force loaded with heavy equipment, mortars and machine guns, and it was a real, armed, large combat patrol of Germans, and here I've got ten or twelve guys and I was about to take on fifty or sixty when we've still got our mission to accomplish. They were headed in the other direction toward Utah, so we let them go. They went around down to the left. Then Jack Kuhn, who was my platoon sergeant while I was the acting platoon leader, and I saw these markings in this sunken road that looked like something heavy had been over it, and we didn't know if it had been a farm wagon or what.

Sergeant Koenig destroyed the communications along the coastal road by blowing up the telephone poles, and then Jack Kuhn and I went down this sunken road not knowing where the (expletive) it was going, but it was going inland. We came upon this vale or little draw with camouflage all over it, and lo and behold, we peeked over this hedgerow, and there were the guns. It was pure luck. They were all sitting in proper firing condition, with ammunition piled up neatly, everything at the ready, but they were pointed at Utah Beach, not Omaha. There was nobody at the emplacement. We looked around cautiously, and over about a hundred yards away in a corner of a field was a vehicle with what looked like an officer talking to his men

We decided that nobody was here so let's take a chance. I said, "Jack, you cover me and I'm going in there and destroy them." So all I had was two thermite grenades -- his and mine. I went in and put the thermite grenades in the traversing mechanism, and that knocked out two of them because that melted their gears in a moment. And then I broke their sights, and we ran back to the road, which was a hundred or so yards back, and got all the other thermites from the remainder of my guys manning the roadblock, and rushed back and put the grenades in traversing mechanisms, elevation mechanisms, and banged the sights. There was no noise to that. There is no noise to a thermite, so no one saw us, and Jack said, "Hurry up and get out of there, Len." and I came up over the hedgerow with him, and suddenly the whole place blew up. We thought it was a short round from the Texas.

What it was, was another patrol from Company E, led by Sergeant Rupinski, had come around to the left of us, and came upon the ammo depot of this gun emplacement, and blew it up. I never saw it. It blew up, and we went flying, and dust and everything was settling on us, and we got up and ran like two scared rabbits as fast as we could back to our men at the roadblock.

We had the guns out of action before 8:30 in morning, and Sergeant Harry Fate volunteered to go back to Colonel Rudder and report the mission was accomplished and that we had the roadblock set up; and Sergeant Gordon Luning volunteered to take the message via a different route.

Those guns had not been recently moved to that position. They'd been there a long time. There wasn't one bomb crater near them, therefore they were so well camouflaged that the air force and whoever did the bombings of them never saw them, and their photos never saw them. The rest of the Pointe was perforated. They'd been blowing the (expletive) out of that for four months. No wonder they'd moved those guns. You couldn't find a straight piece of land to do anything on at the Pointe.*

D-Day is not Memorial Day.  Nor is it Veteran’s Day.  But it is still a hallowed day!  And if you encounter anyone at all who, in any way at all, participated in that “day of days”, whether tomorrow on its anniversary or any other day, be sure to express your gratitude to them.  Their actions were gallant! But their willingness to offer themselves on behalf of others for the greater good of mankind was truly heroic! For these reasons, they deserved to be honored. For our part, may we always do just that!

*SOURCE: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dday/sfeature/sf_voices_06.html.
NOTE: Much more about Sgt. Lomell and his many other acts of heroism can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Lomell.

A GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT

6/2/2014

It has been a distinct pleasure for my wife and I to have hosted Mathews and Daisy Varghese in our home this weekend, including a trip for supper at the local Japanese restaurant.

Those of you familiar with my blog will perhaps remember that Vickie and I were able to visit India last fall.  At that time, Mathews and Daisy hosted us in their home.  Now, we have returned the favor.

Mathews is the Director of the Good News Center in Bhopal, India. Along with his wife, Daisy, and their then small son, Ashlin, he founded this ministry back in 1987. Their daughter, Asha, was born there a few years later.

The Varghese family is originally from the state of Kerala in extreme southern India.  Kerala is the only predominantly Christian state in all of India. As a young man, Mathews felt called of the Lord to leave his home and go and do missionary work in the northern part of India, which is predominantly Hindu and Muslim.

God has truly blessed his work there.  Today, Good News Bhopal has grown into much more than just a local church. It is a full- fledged ministry center that provides a school, an orphanage, a literacy center, a conference and training center for missionaries, a women’s tailoring center (wherein women are empowered to learn a valuable trade and thereby improve their lot in life), and several other relevant ministries.

If you would like to know more about Mathews and Daisy and the difference they are making in the lives of the people of India, you can read more at:  http://www.gnccbhopal.org/.

Please pray for them as well as the people to whom they minister.  The area where they are situated is one of extreme poverty.  Most of the people there are trapped in the sense that they are unable to transcend their circumstances - at least not without the intervention of someone in their lives. Mathews and Daisy are attempting to do just that; and slowly, but surely, they are succeeding.

More importantly, they are helping to share the difference that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can make - both for this world and for the next.  For my part, I am both humbled and convicted whenever I am in the presence of Mathews. He may be the single most Christ-like person I have ever known.

By this I mean that he is truly a man who walks by faith; and as he does, he eschews self-interest more than any person I have ever known. And like His Lord, He has chosen to give himself completely on behalf of others, laboring in relative obscurity as he tirelessly seeks to empower the poorest of the poor and the lowest of the low.

For me, no doubt, one of the great joys of Heaven will be that of seeing this man and his precious wife receive their eternal reward for all that they have given and sacrificed on behalf of the Kingdom of God here in this present life.

I am reminded of the words of Jesus in His famed “Parable of the Talents”, as recorded in the New Testament in one of the four Gospels written by another man named Matthew (25:14-30), where the Master says to his faithful servant: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will now put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!”