Day 10 – Our Fallen Warriors: Remembering
Today is a great day in the history of our nation. It is the day we formally recognize as the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed. Two days before, on July 2nd, 1776, Congress approved a resolution for independence from Britain. They wrote the Declaration of Independence the same day and revised and edited it with the final approval and signing happening on July 4th, 2010.
The date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence reminds us that we are free. We celebrate by having cookouts, barbecues, spending most of the day outside and ending with a show of fireworks. It is a happy day.
This date holds a lot of meaning for soldiers and the families. Not only are we acutely aware of what our freedom meant to the young nation back in 1776, but we are also challenged daily to remember the early soldiers’ sacrifices for the country we have now. We are charged to never forget.
…and we never do.
Right now, there is a young mother somewhere in our military whose husband joined the United States just three years ago. She found out she was expecting their first child – a baby boy – four months after his joining. A month after the baby was born, the young husband and soon-to-be father deployed to Iraq. Eleven months into his 12 month tour, his caravan hit an I.E.D. It just so happened that he was in the vehicle that took the blast. No one survived. She has been a widow for over a year and sees her husband every time their son smiles.
At this moment, there is a soldier in an US hospital on a base in Germany. He’s a tall man. Handsome. Strong. Beautiful, wavy, brown hair and a piercing, brown eye are his most notable assets. His surgeries have nearly come to an end. One of the last things remaining is to be fitted for his prosthetic eye. It has been three months since his mishap with a car bomb. Somehow, he didn’t get down low enough when the device blew, and some of the projected debris from the explosion hit him in the face. He lost his right eye. He feels blessed to even be alive and hopes that the eye will not look too strange…that his wife will stay with him, even though he is scarred and no amount of surgery can remove all the damage. He reaches tentatively to touch the place where his right ear used to be and lies down once more to what he prays will be a dreamless sleep.
Somewhere in the United States is a little girl who has just turned eleven years old. She remembers how her mommy used to come into her bedroom at night when she thought the child was sleeping. She almost always awake, though…..something her mom never realized. She stayed awake because, when her mother entered the room, usually a couple of hours after her bedtime, she would pray for her daughter…pray for her to always act like a lady, to make good choices in life, and to be a good student in school and a good friend to those she loved but who were not in her family. Listening to her mom’s voice made it safe to go to sleep at night. This little girl fights insomnia now simply because she misses her mother’s voice at night….and the one kiss that always followed the prayer.. Every time she leaned down to gently kiss her daughter, the child would breathe her mother’s scent deeply and drift peacefully into sleep. Today, closing her eyes is so difficult to do. By the time she turned eleven, she realized that she was starting to forget little things about her mommy. Mommy was a soldier…and a gentle one at that. Daddy’s kisses are wonderful, but nothing compares to her memory of her mother. She stays awake to remember…
Independence Day for military families is not just a day to eat outside with family and friends. It is that and it is so much more. The festive nature of the day challenges us to find something beautiful about the sacrifice that so many have made. All soldiers who die in combat die believing the fight is worth it…and it is.
Someone is waiting on a soldier to land at an airport after a 13 month deployment to Afghanistan. Their reunion after a year of the is going to be sweet. The spouse hopes that her soldier will be home for at least 2 years to make up for three back-to-back tours in the middle east. She nearly screams when she sees him coming down the escalator and runs to him, the tears on her face quite understandable. I am happy for them both. They both know how blessed they are to have another reunion…
Steven Curtis Chapman is an artist whose daughter died in a vehicular accident. “Heaven is the Face” is a song he wrote about her and about the fact that he knows he will see her again one day. He knows that death is a part of life and places his hope in Christ, the Resurrection. Like him, families of wounded and fallen warriors hope for the day that they see their loved ones again. They pray for the day that the hearts of their wounded warriors can be healed. This is the first video. If you are missing a soldier who has died or has been injured, I hope this song encourages you.
Mark Schultz sings “Letters from War,” about a mother whose son comes home from war after a long silence. Where he once wrote her often, the letters have stopped. Miraculously, he returns home one day. For all of us who have our soldiers and they are alive and well, I pray that they all remain safe. I hope this song also is an encouragement.
Happy Independence Day, everyone. Pray for those nations do not yet have what we do here in the USA.
Remember those who gave their lives and have continued to do so for the sake of democracy. Celebrate our freedom.
We have earned it and we continue to earn it every, single day…
Steven Curtis Chapman: “Heaven is the Face”
Mark Schultz: “Letters from War”
Christi Johnson
“Heaven is the Face” makes me cry every time I hear it…