John 15:13: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”.

             Memorial Day is a very special day for remembering those who have given their lives to defend ours.  As a boy, I remember parades with marching soldiers, led by veterans carrying the flag.  I remember seeing tears come to the eyes of my father and other grown men who had served in World Wars I & II.  My father had served as a machine-gunner during the first World War in France.  As with most combat veterans, he didn't talk about it much, but he kept a newspaper describing how a young lieutenant had fallen on a hand grenade that landed in a trench, in order to save his men.  All Dad said was that it was his lieutenant!  I still have that paper.

             It seems people were more conscious in those days of the sacrifices paid for our freedom.  There were always people visiting the cemeteries, decorating the graves of fallen soldiers.  People knew by the single star flag in the window of a home that a family member was serving or had lost their life in the war.  In many cases, there was more than one such flag.  The fallen weren't just numbers and statistics—they were brothers, fathers, and neighbors, all loved and mourned.  I remember a young man named Jerry, who graduated from high school just as I became a freshman.  He was the quarterback of our football team, president of the student council, an excellent trumpet player, and a very popular young man.  He enlisted in the Marines right out of high school.  Within a year, we heard that he had been killed by machine-gun fire in Korea.  These experiences and memories make it personal.

             I served four years in the United States Air Force, but refuse to stand up on Memorial Day to be “recognized for my service.”  I don't believe I'm alone.  I know the argument—that everyone who has served was willing to give their lives, and I get it.  However, for me, Memorial Day is to remember those who did give their lives.  Next to them are all those who were wounded, and came home with broken bodies or broken spirits.  No one can come close to imagining the experiences of so many young men, even before they have reached the age of twenty-one.  At that age, you are strong, fast, fit, and feel indestructible.  You're pretty sure you have already learned everything a person needs to know. But then, you are suddenly in the middle of a war and being shot at by men you've never seen or known.  You form a comradery with the other men around you, joking and getting to know about each other—families, backgrounds, experiences. Then, there is an explosion, and these guys are killed, or mutilated right in front of you. Or, you might be the one who wakes up in a muddy, bloody field or a military hospital bed.  The shock is devastating and doesn't fade—an image you'll have in your mind for the rest of your life.  These are the men we should remember with gratitude, honor, and respect.

             For me, the Flag has always represented these men and their sacrifices.  In the military, you learn to equate the flag with freedom, home, history, duty, and honor.  I'd like to explain some of the symbolism of the Flag.

             There are thirteen stripes, representing the first thirteen colonies that formed our Great “Nation Under God” 241 years ago.  The Red represents the blood shed for our freedoms; the White represents the purity of the one we follow—“In God We Trust!”   There are fifty stars (one for every state) on a background of Blue representing our eternal destiny, Heaven—if we are a people “under God” and trusting in Him).

             Therefore, we cannot have a “Memorial Day” without honoring the greatest sacrifice of all, God's only Son, Jesus Christ, sacrificed for our sins on Calvary's tree.  He is our Creator, our Lord and Savior.

             Isaiah 53:4-5: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

             John 19:16-18: “Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.”

             There is a line of a gospel song that goes; “He gave His life-blood for even me!” It is through Him that we can have peace, joy, and the “hope that is within us” that we will spend eternity with Him, in the place He has prepared for us.

             In the last few decades, we have allowed God to be taken out of our schools, our public square, and even close to public utterance of His Name.  He warned us in:

             Mark 8:38   “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels”.

             As a nation, we have sinned by our apathy, “politically correct” tolerance, and our “turning away from God”!  As a result, we see our nation more divided, more affected by crime and violence, more immoral, more disrespectful, more dishonest, and more decadent than we can remember.  In our schools, our children are being taught things that wouldn't have even been considered when we were children.  There is only one answer:

             2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land”.

             I have seen indications of the Body of Christ in the United States, starting to repent and seek God's forgiveness.  I believe we have been given a “window of opportunity” to turn back to Him, to proclaim Him, to glorify Him, and to reach as many lost souls as possible.  I believe this should be a Memorial Day during which we should have a great deal to remember, and a great deal to resolve.

             “In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea,

            With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me;

            As He died to make men holy let us die to make men free;

            His truth is marching on!

            Glory, glory, hallelujah, glory, glory, hallelujah.

            Glory, glory, hallelujah, His truth is marching on”!

Every once in a while I’m asked by someone in the church, “where are the young adults in our church?”  My initial thought is this is a person who genuinely cares but has a blind spot to this area of ministry in the church.  It’s no different than our lack of awareness about any ministry in the church that we’re not connected to at the time.  Think about it for a minute, you connect with the people that you’re in ministry with and without some intentional effort you can have a blind spot to other ministries you don’t participate in, it’s almost as though they don’t exist sometimes. 

Our College & Career ministry is one of those ministries that easily can be a blind spot for many members.  They’re a very transient group as they transition through various life stages…new jobs, new relationships, new colleges, and moving away.  That doesn’t even consider the fact that many of them are experiencing adulthood for the first time and trying to figure out if they want to do things the same way they’ve had to do them under their parent's authority up to this point.  It creates a unique challenge, to say the least in a town where the closest major college campus of any size is at least 20 minutes away.

All that being said, it’s been exciting to see as God has grown the ministry to young adults.  From the earliest stages of it, it was evident that God had a plan and despite who we may have thought was necessary for that plan, He provided who He knew we needed.  I’m very excited to see God work among our young adults and those in the community and since this is a blind spot for many in the church, want to give you a glimpse into what God is doing. 

While most of you are at home on Wednesday evenings, our College & Career (CnC) group meets each week.  At 8 p.m. they meet in my home (1243 Highland Circle Dr. Wentzville MO 63385) where we share a meal together, study the Bible together, pray together, and enjoy time hanging out.  They’re doing their “Sunday School” just like the rest of you do Explore the Bible, just a different time and place.  One of the things that is exciting about this is you never know who might come through the door on any given night.  We’ve had the opportunity to host people of all different backgrounds, from atheist to believers just looking for a place to connect with other young adults.  Over the last year, we’ve had about 25 different guests come through our doors as we try to reach young adults.

While that is exciting, what is just getting started excites me even more.  Just like other groups in our Sunday School ministry, we’ve been working through how to be more intentional in reaching people for Christ knowing that we need to do better to fulfill our purpose as a ministry.  We spent multiple weeks during our gathering to discuss how to reach people better than ever before.  At some point it became time to talk about who was actually going to do something about the ideas…not just talk about stuff. 

One of the first things that came out of our discussions was that we needed to spend time weekly praying for lost people.  Since then we’ve been breaking up into small groups of 2-3 to pray for lost people by name and for our prayer partners obedience when God presents opportunities.   I’ve got 3 young adults in mind right now that I’m praying for that work at a local Starbucks with one of our young men.  It changes things when we begin to think about and pray for lost people. 

Another thing that came out of our discussions was that we needed to have events outside our typical gathering time where we sought to bring people together that wouldn’t otherwise step foot into one of our worship services or our small group Bible Study.  Our goal is to bring people together and then to give them the opportunity to respond to the gospel.  Our first attempt at this will be May 27 as one of the young women is putting together a scavenger hunt where everyone is being encouraged to build their own team with the intent of having a time afterward where they can share testimonies of how Christ has changed their lives and how He can change theirs as well.

They’re not pretending like they’ve arrived, nor reached the point where we can be satisfied with the ministry but they are starting to embrace the reality of the fact that God has blessed us with such a ministry and in doing so has given us the responsibility to reach more young adults.  This is only a couple steps they’re taking to be more intentional.  To that end, I think if they continue on this path, that within the year, we’ll have another group of young adults meeting on a weekly basis….and who knows what God has in store from there.

One of the best things you can do is pray for these young adults.  Pray for them as they take steps to reach people for Christ.  Pray for their obedience and the hearts of those that they’re trying to reach.  Pray for those that graduate and have to go through a significant life change that results in having to find new friends and places to connect.  Pray for more young adults who are serious about the mission of God to rise up, to be a part of a core group that would start another Bible study group, maybe even on Sunday morning.

Our church is blessed to have young adults, seriously we are….some churches, like us a few years ago aren’t fortunate enough to have a group of young adults doing ministry together.  Encourage young adults when you see them…many are serving on Sunday mornings.  While you’re praying for them, ask God how He might lead you to do what they’re doing….trying to be intentional as a group in reaching people.  Your Sunday school group could probably take the task of reaching people more seriously as well, just like the College & Career ministry has begun to do!