Please Read: A Veteran's Day to Remember

The title of this post asks you to read my meager reflections on this day. Thank you for reading up to this point. I hope that my reflections might make this day a little more meaningful to you, as it has been for me.

As a pastor you never know where the Lord will take you throughout the course of a day. As I was making appointments this morning to visit the shut ins of Redeemer, I learned that one of my members was at the VA Hospital in Chillicothe. Seeing as I had some time before my afternoon appointments, I took the one hour drive to see my member. I thought of the irony of visiting a vet on Veteran's Day at a Veteran's Hospital. I did my duty as pastor and visited and ministered this faithful saint. I read Scripture, had a prayer, thanked him for his service, and I was about ready to leave. I noticed the patient in the next bed. I greeted him and thanked him for his service on this Veteran's Day. He told me that he served in both the Army and Marines. After our conversation, he thanked me for thanking him. Isn't that odd? Here is a vet who gave a part of his life so that we can live in freedom. It is our duty to thank them, yet he thanks me for thanking him! It didn't feel right, to accept his thanks, he really needs to accept our thanks.

As I walked back to my car, I passed other vets, sitting outside, smoking and conversing. I waved to them and made it a point to thank them for their service. To a man, they thanked me for thanking them. Again, how odd! Here are men in wheelchairs, some with lost limbs, they paid the sacrifice, they deserve my thanks, our thanks, and yet, on this day for them, they thank someone who is grateful for their service. They thanked me for thanking them.

As I thought about this on the way home, it started to make some sense, as to why these veterans thanked me. It is a part of who they are. You see, when you serve your country and serve others as these men (and women) have, you aren't looking for thanks, or praise. You are just doing your duty. That is what sacrifice is, doing your part without expecting a reward. Our veterans strike me as humble people. They don't want to talk about the battles they fought to win our freedom. They don't even want to talk about themselves. It isn't about them, it is about US (the United States). That is why they served. That is why they still serve. They pay the price so that we might be free. Thank God for our soldiers and our veterans. They are truly gifts of God, serving in a vocation that many of us take for granted. Walking through the halls of the VA Hospital in Chillicothe, and meeting some veterans who are hospitalized there, has made this Veteran's Day a day that I will remember. To our vets I say thank you, not only today, but I will try to thank them every time I can. Because of their sacrifice and service, we can truly be free.