Since 1995 and the fiftieth...
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Since 1995 and the fiftieth anniversary of World War II, we have been besieged by a variety of media recollecting the sacrifices connected with victory. Recent movies and books have celebrated the pain and sacrifice that were essential foundations for the present peace and prosperity.
My father served in the South Pacific. He arrived early in the war, long before there were adequate resources for waging war. The places he speaks about are names like Guadalcanal, Rendova, New Georgia, and New Guinea. Since I was a boy he has told me about a friend of his, a young man from New York, named Zuczanski. On patrol they encountered an enemy machine gun emplacement. His friend found a way to get close enough to the emplacement to dispatch it with a satchel charge. The approach came at the cost of a mortal wound. My father frequently reminded me that without his friend's sacrifice, he may have died and I would not be alive today. Dad always encouraged me to be thankful for this man's life, since my own has come at the cost of his. Likewise, we are indebted to Christ for our very lives.
God's yearning is not for empty observances and religious functions, but for true gratitude and celebration: gratitude and celebration that remains mindful that Christ died for us.
-- Frye
My father served in the South Pacific. He arrived early in the war, long before there were adequate resources for waging war. The places he speaks about are names like Guadalcanal, Rendova, New Georgia, and New Guinea. Since I was a boy he has told me about a friend of his, a young man from New York, named Zuczanski. On patrol they encountered an enemy machine gun emplacement. His friend found a way to get close enough to the emplacement to dispatch it with a satchel charge. The approach came at the cost of a mortal wound. My father frequently reminded me that without his friend's sacrifice, he may have died and I would not be alive today. Dad always encouraged me to be thankful for this man's life, since my own has come at the cost of his. Likewise, we are indebted to Christ for our very lives.
God's yearning is not for empty observances and religious functions, but for true gratitude and celebration: gratitude and celebration that remains mindful that Christ died for us.
-- Frye
