Veterans

November 11 is celebrated in the US as Veterans' Day, remembering all the men and women who have served and are serving in the armed forces in this country. Those who fell in battle, and those who are still serving, get honored once a year. So they should be. To keep us a free country, they risk their lives every day, enduring a lot of discomfort, often thousands of miles from home and loved ones. As much as I hate war, with its waste of human lives and its savagery, I still believe it's important to honor those who have served our nation. Whenever I have a chance, I stop and thank people in uniform for their service to the country. (And that includes emergency workers as well -- especially our police and firefighters.)

We can also honor those in the faith who went before us. Hebrews 11 has a list of them: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Jochebed (Moses's mother), Moses, Rahab the prostitute, and a bunch of others, named and unnamed. You could also include Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her husband Joseph. All the apostles and leaders of the early church, too. They all went through suffering, pain, separation from their families, ridicule and disdain from those around them, and in some cases, torture and execution for holding on to their convictions, to make a way for us. More recent figures come to mind as well. Martin Luther, for instance, and a lot of other leaders of the church.

What about those 'veterans' of the faith who provided a way for you to know your Savior? That may be your parents or grandparents, or a teacher, or neighbor, Scout leader, friend or even someone you didn't know before that time. And somebody who first told them about the grace of God in Jesus Christ. And the one who told that person, all the way back to the first apostles.

Maybe we should stop to honor them as well. Without them in our lives, we might not be here.

Who can you thank God for?