05/24/2026
As a veteran, I pause on this Memorial Day weekend to reflect on what truly fills the hearts and minds of so many Americans.
For countless people, it has become little more than a three-day break—time for backyard barbecues, store-wide sales, and long-awaited getaways.
Yet beneath the noise of celebration lies a sobering reality: since 1775, more than 1.2 million brave men and women have laid down their lives in service to our nation.
Countless families still remember the telegram, the folded flag, or that dreaded knock at the door that changed everything forever.
Millions of children have grown up never knowing their father’s voice or their mother’s embrace. Spouses have faced empty chairs at the dinner table, and parents have buried sons and daughters who never came home.
Others, haunted by the invisible wounds of combat—traumatic memories and the crushing weight of survivor’s guilt—have taken their own lives in the quiet battles that continue long after the fighting ends.
In the midst of our freedom, may we never forget that every blessing we enjoy was purchased with a price. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Today, let us honor those who paid that ultimate price. Let us pray for the families, the friends, and the loved ones who still feel the ache of their absence—and for all of us, that we would remember their sacrifice with grateful hearts.
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”- John 15:13 (ESV)
