Thank a veteran.

Today is Veterans Day in the United States. A day for honoring the men and women of our armed service. A news blog wrote this. …the most productive thing anyone outside the military can do is actually very simple and easy, they say: Strike up a conversation with a veteran. Get to know one of them in a meaningful way. There is a wide cultural gap between Americans who have no relationship with the Armed Forces and those who’ve served their country. Closing that gap is as necessary as it is long overdue.

I agree. I do not want to take away from this honorable holiday. My dad was military. I wrote this article and many others on the subject of Veterans. I hope you will take the time to read them.

Thank a veteran. Thank someone who has been there. Laid down their life to allow you freedom.

I, like so many others, am often astounded at the trust of God in man. To sit in heaven and believe for a people who will change the world. Too often I awaken to these words, “your kingdom come. Your will be done. Here on earth as it is in heaven.”

Yesterday was a day where to remain afloat I trusted in God. But it was also a day where I had decided to embrace His kingdom come. I prayed for people. Talked to people. Helped people.

Amongst us there are veterans of the faith. Men and women who have walked where you may be walking or where you desire to walk. And truly if they believe in what they did and why they did, they want you to go beyond where they were. I assure you my dad did not take bullets and shrapnel so his sons and daughter could go get shot up on some beach in the South Pacific. I am sure my friends who have suffered at the hands of the enemy are not wishing that on you or your family.

This past week a young person came to me for counsel. Counsel for a large decision. Nothing makes me more pleased than to see a younger person looking for thought process to move ahead. To move beyond. They do not have to ask me. They can ask any “veteran” and I would be thrilled.

My grandchildren always want to know about “what it was like” being a child. Part of my writing is sharing with them histories, challenges and overcoming. The other day we spoke sincerely about drugs. About road maps for the future. They will ask about wars and Watergate. About presidents and famous people. Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy shared the victories they had. Moses reminded them how God delivered their parents from Egyptian slavery, parted the Red Sea, brought water from the rock, and manna from the skies: “God carried us as tenderly as a father carries his children,” Moses recalled. “He gave us guidance with a cloud of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night. He gave us the Ten Commandments.”

Veterans of war sit there with tears in their eyes as they recollect fallen comrades, difficult times. But, oh to see a Berlin Wall fall!

Veterans of faith are like that. We cry for those who have gone on but we are joyful when cancer falls or death is beaten. Yesterday I prayed for a man who has a brother battling cancer. (Many of you know I have a brother doing the same.)I simply prayed for him. I do not know him that well, but I know God. “Thy kingdom come!”

Tell it to the children. Tell it to a generation. Share your faith. Let us destroy the lies of the past. Lies, deceptions and challenges.

What is your Berlin Wall? Let it fall.(The only think left of the Berlin Wall are souvenirs and mindsets.)

God said to Moses, “it is time to leave the mountain”. Perhaps it is time for you to leave the mountain behind and move to the promised land.

Not to go tell it on the mountain, but to fell the mountain. Mark 11:23

If you have blessed life and you see yourself growing in the kingdom, thank a veteran. I am so thankful that I did not have to do the physical or spirit wars of my forefathers. I have had my own. But I look at my kids and say “you do not have to do this” Now I know God does not have “grandchildren” but there is something in the stories of faith of others that have usher in new realms of presence for me just as I have for others.

Today, thank a veteran. Thank those who have fought for our country. Your freedoms. And then look around the spiritual landscape and be thankful for those who have established His presence.Than