Memorial Day has become one of my favorite holidays.  Our country has several holidays intended to memorialize certain important events in our nation’s history, but Memorial Day is a day set aside to remember and honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of our country.  After all, it is only because there have been those who have fought and died that we can enjoy our sunny barbecues and backyard volleyball with little more than our morning commutes to weigh on our mind.  We enjoy truly extraordinary comforts in America.  A crisis for us is a broken air conditioners or poor service at a restaurant.  Most of the “inconveniences” that afflict our lives certainly pale when compared to the plights of the thousands who have huddled in muddy foxholes and bled their futures away.

I fear that many who “celebrate” Memorial Day fail to pause even momentarily to remember what this day is all about. It’s a day off work. An opportunity to fire up the grill. Maybe go shopping. In a way, these are all wonderful legacies of those who have fought to make these luxuries possible, and for as long as I can remember, these are things that I’ve also done on Memorial Day.  In fact, for each of the past, oh, eight years or so, my church gets together for a big party. We enjoy fantastic food, lots of games, and remarkably, perennial sunshine.  Thankfully, though, we also incorporate a memorial service into the afternoon.  There’s special music, prayer, and a presentation on some of our nation’s heros.

The grilling, the smoothie bar, the socializing, the softball games, the camp fires… these are all a key part of what makes this day special to me.  But let’s not forget the blood-stained fields and shattered dreams that went into making all of this possible.

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There are still a few days left in this rainy month, yet it seems like events at its beginning occurred ages ago.  This is the common result of a schedule so incredibly jammed packed that the passage of time takes on strange dimensions.  Let’s see… the beginning of the month found me in California, skiing for a couple of days and chillaxing on the beach.  The next weekend I was in New Hampshire, busy with all the best man stuff for my friend’s wedding.  The following Monday I flew to Las Vegas for the NAB show.  The only money I lost in Vegas was to some overpriced meals at the hotel; it’s great not being a gambler!  Then just this past weekend, I jetted out to (more…)

One of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving. Not just because I get to participate in the national pastime of overeating, but because it is perhaps the noblest of our nation’s holidays. Americans have always had much to be thankful for, and it’s wonderful that we dedicate at least one day per year to stop and ponder the many things for which we owe a debt of gratitude. Sadly, there are many who squirm away from even a hint of Providence, flippantly changing the moniker to an inelegant “Turkey Day.” For me, however, Thanksgiving is a day that reminds me that every day, really, should be Thanksgiving.

The year is not yet over, but it’s already proven to be a banner year for me. In spite of what may be the worst economic conditions of my lifetime, my business has more than doubled. And that happened in between 68 days of vacation, most of which involved trips to Russia, Greece, France, and Austria! (more…)

Corrie, my best friend and die-hard Yankees fan, more or less guilted me into going with her today to the Yankees ticker tape parade in New York. I’m a Boston fan myself, so naturally the situation presented a serious moral conundrum. Do I be the good friend and help make it possible for her to enjoy celebrating with her stupid Bronx Boys, but in the process commit a serious betrayal of my own team. Or do I play the part of any sensible Red Sox fan and sanction any recognition of such an abominable event, but in the process dash a childhood dream of my good friend. I mean, Romeo wouldn’t have accompanied Juliet to a Capulet house party, right? Well, I guess he did sneak into a ball, but when he got caught things started getting ugly. OK, so it’s a flawed analogy, but I suppose the bigger question is, why would I, a loyal Red Sox fan, be friends with a Yankees fan like Corrie? Someone firmly entrenched in the enemy camp. Someone who even
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Six years in a row now, we’ve had wonderful weather for Memorial Day.  I’ve taken notice of this mostly because our church has an annual get-together, and the activities always involve lots of outdoor sports such as volleyball, wiffle ball, basketball, and croquet.  I ran my smoothie stand again, with smoothies featuring the not-so-secret ingredient of cabbage, something that has become a tradition for our Memorial Day picnics.  Scores of people enjoyed enough delicious food to feed a crowd twice our size.  Then we worked it all off with competitive games of volleyball and basketball.

 

This has become one of my favorite days of the year.

Today, as in previous years, I sat on the grass under the blue skies, filled with warmth and satisfaction, listening to my dad give a great presentation on some of our war heroes.  I wondered if things may be desperately worse at some point in the future, and perhaps I would be dreaming about these days when I relaxed under sunny skies with my friends, well-fed and content.  It sure makes me thankful that we have these days of peace, decadence, and happiness!  God is so good to us.  He’s given us here in America an extended age of blessing for Christians that is unprecedented in history.  But to whom much is given, much will be required, and I pray that we as a church and I as an individual don’t fritter away this time of opportunity. (more…)