His name was Jimmy Gonzales. He had been in the Marine Corps for over two years and was one of the early ones to be sent to Vietnam. He was a corporal and a mortar-man but on the last day of his young life he was carrying his squad’s radio. Maybe it was because they singled out the man with the radio that he died that day. Or maybe it was just the horrific confusion and noise and chaos of combat. He was shot and died in a place called Vietnam. His body was brought back to my hometown. I was part of an honor guard in my Boy Scout troop and was assigned to present the colors at a ceremony where a tree was planted on the high school campus. He was the first and not the last to give his life for his country in that war. Holding the flag close to his family I can still remember the choking tears and even as a kid I understood that he would never get married, have kids or get the chance to grow old. America today remembers all the Jimmy Gonzales’s who have laid down their lives for us. Jesus was the one who said that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. He could say that to us because he too would lay his life down so that we could be free and forgiven and live with God forever. I remember that today. I will not ever forget that. And every Memorial Day I will remember Jimmy Gonzales and that he is but one of hundreds of thousands who have laid their lives down for America…for us. Don’t let them have died in vain, but let God use us to lead this nation to a new day where we will indeed be one nation, under God. Here’s our Bible verse for today…
John 15:13 NLT There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Remember I’m praying for you!
With love, PJ
John 15:13 NLT There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Remember I’m praying for you!
With love, PJ