Happy Memorial Day

2 Corinthians 5:21 "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Memorial Day is a big deal to our family. Both Tammy and I have fathers who served in the Army, mine during World War II, Tammy's just after Korea. There are other family members who have or are serving in a branch of the military today. We appreciate the willingness to serve our country, and the freedoms that we have because of them.

Tammy is doing well. She had kind of a rough week last week, a minor set-back in her progress. There's nothing wrong, just some additional fatigue. After getting noticeably better almost every day for a while, it was frustrating to see her more tired. He blood counts still are improving, so we're confident that it was the "one step back" after several steps forward.

Yesterday and today are better. She has more energy (relatively speaking) and is working on copying recipes for Julie. We know this is a long road, so the occasional slow-down is understandable.

Getting back to Memorial Day, it is an awesome tribute to our troops. We are watching the NASCAR race, and we just saw a moving tribute. They just threw the caution in the middle of the race, brought all the cars to a stop near the start/finish line for a moment of silence. Even the drivers were moved.

The sacrifice our troops have made to provide us freedom is something everyone can relate to. It reminds us of what Christ did for us. (This is too easy.) The scripture above points to the fact that Christ gave up His own freedom as part of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and came and dwelt among us. He experienced the same temptations we do, suffered rejection and humiliation, and willingly sacrificed Himself so that we might experience freedom from sin.

The world we live in is a constant battle. We battle the temptations of life. We battle each other, thus the need for military. We win one battle and another one comes right after it. The beauty of Christ's sacrifice is that it's a once-and-for-all sacrifice. He paid the price for our sins and it's over.

As we celebrate Memorial Day, remember the ultimate sacrifice paid by the Ultimate Savior.