Freedom Isn't Free

Happy Memorial Day weekend.  This layout is a reflection on where we stand today - 10 years after the day our world stood still on 9/11 2001.  My boys were so little and today they are men.  In 1995, we were a family that had the USAF chaplain arrive at the door with the news that my sister had died of unknown causes at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan...2 weeks before her wedding day.  We had to cancel a wedding and plan a funeral in a week. I have still not put the whole experience into words - because there are no words.

When words fail - that is where a 21 gun salute and the bugle corps playing Taps spoke volumes about service, honor and sacrifice.  The last 21 months of her life - we did not get to see her or hug her.  Still - God in his wisdom - gave her the love of her life in that season.  A good and loving man to make her last days the sweetest of her life.  He put her in a situation where she ministered to the brokenhearted and healed those around her with her generous spirit.  I know because those she touched told the stories.   When I see a flag - my mind is taken to the soldier handing that folded representation of her service in the Air Force and her sacrifice to be away from home in what we did not know would be the last days of her life.

Hold those you love close.  Forgive. Pray for a soldier.  Love without reservation for we know not the day we have left.