Veterans

Good Words from God’s Word
 
Yesterday, November 11th was Veterans Day. Veterans are individuals who know how to serve. Veterans know the meaning of what Jesus said:
 
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)
 
Someone has said, “For the veteran, thank you for doing what you are called to do, so we may do what we are free to do.”
 
Veterans serve their country to protect and preserve freedom. We should always remember, “Freedom is not Free.” 
 
Veterans know what it means to live by a code. The veteran’s code is:

“DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY.”

 
General Douglas MacArthur defined these words in 1962 during a speech to the cadets at West Point when he accepted the Thayer Award:
 
“Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, and what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to reign faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.
 
The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pendent, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and I am sorry to say some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule.
 
But these are some of the things they do: They build your character. They mold you for your future roles as custodians of the nation’s defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid.
 
They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for action; not to seek the path of comfort; but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm, but to have compassion for those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future, yet never neglect the past; to be serious, yet never take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.”
 
The soldier’s code then is more than just words, it is a way of life. We thank God for our veterans. They show us what true freedom really is and help all of us to strive to be better than we can be by ourselves.
 
One other brief word before I close this article. God performed another MIRACLE at Grace this past Sunday. We have been praying that God would provide the resources we need to pay our 2017 tax obligation for the present location plus our new permanent site down the road. The total tax bill amounts to $14,000. The MIRACLE I’m talking about that happened last week is what God provided through the generous giving of our people:

$13,990.00 in General Tithes and Offerings,
$2,685.00 in the Special Offering for taxes, plus
$371.00 in One Mile Capital Campaign donations.

 
The One Mile balance is now $52,337.00 through Grace Baptist Church, and when added to the matching funds from our benefactor the grand total is $104,674.00 to date.
 
I believe in MIRACLES. I believe in God’s amazing provision. I believe in the generosity of our church family. Keep on Believing! Keep on Praying! Keep on Giving! The Bible says:
 
“…He is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works with us” (Ephesians 3:20)