MEMORIAL DAY.....WHAT IS WAS AND WHAT IT SHOULD BE

MEMORIAL DAY.....WHAT IT WAS AND WHAT IT SHOULD BE

In the 1860's a day of remembrance was declared, Decoration Day, to honor those who have died in our nation's service during the Civil War.  Memorial Day was officially proclaimed in May 1868 and after WWI the holiday was changed from honoring the Civil War dead to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war.

Sadly the majority of Americans look forward to Memorial Weekend as the beginning of their summer holiday, three months of sun, fun, cookouts, sales in the stores and partying.  School is out and all things serious are put aside until the fall when school resumes. Even our administration in Washington, our nation's leaders, rush out of town for the summer.  They head for their home states for three months, appearing in the media for 'photo ops' in parades on holidays like Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veteran's Day.   I do believe that there are a handful of them who honestly revere these holidays and know in their hearts the true meaning of those holidays and I thank them for being an example to the population at large.

For those families who have lost a father, brother, uncle, mother, sister, cousin.......their memorial candle shines brightly in their darkness.   Their sadness and loss is real and they are offended by the lack of patriotism and honor that should be accorded to their lost loved ones on this special holiday........and they live it every day of their lives.

In December 2000 a resolution was passed which asks Americans "to voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of Remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing, for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps' at 3pm on Memorial Day. It is a step in the right direction to bring awareness to the purpose of this holiday.

When Congress made the day into a three day weekend in 1971 it made it easy for people to be distracted from the true meaning  of Memorial Day.  If it were officially  observed on it's original  May 30 every year,  perhaps Americans would treat the day as the solemn, even sacred day that it deserves.

We, as Americans, owe everything to our fallen, no matter the war or the generation.  My involvement with our wounded warriors and their families, hearing their stories and seeing the pain for their lost brothers, keeps that reverence alive in me every day.  All Americans, whether personally connected to the military or not, should never forget those who have laid down their lives for the freedoms that we enjoy every day.

I have always felt that the greeting "Happy Memorial Day" was completely inappropriate.   I prefer to remind people to remember the reason for their long holiday weekend.    I pray that the citizens of this great country will take a few moments to let their minds wander back over the decades of many wars and the many thousands who gave their lives for America.   It is the very least we can do.   I pray that at 3pm on May 30 America will remember and say a little prayer of gratitude.   I wish you a blessed and meaningful Memorial Day.

A LIFE SAVING PRAYER CHAIN

A LIFE SAVING PRAYER CHAIN


There are times when watching the national news triggers memories and bring a personal event back to the forefront of my mind.   This is one of those stories......about organ donations and how crucial they are. 

Back in March 2010 my mother received a call from a neighbor Betty, whom she knew as an acquaintance but not really a close friend.  Betty had been on kidney dialysis for a long time.   She was in need of a kidney desperately or she would not live.   It was that simple.  A kidney or she would die.   She knew from my mother that I was actively involved in prayer at my church and via the internet and asked her to ask me if  I might reach out through my church and through emails searching for a kidney donor.    I felt blessed to be given the opportunity to do this, and one of the people in my prayer chain has a prayer chain of his own that reaches all over the country.....it is nation wide and goes out each morning five days a week and in emergencies on weekends.   This was the start of a chain of events that glorifies our awesome God!!     Once again He was going to connect those who needed to be connected.

Just days after his prayer request went out a young lady in Delaware responded.    Everything was to take place at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and Beth drove down there several times.    The matching process began...multitudes of tests that normally take months or close to a year to complete.    This young woman was a missionary and had plans  to return to the mission field in Africa at the end of the year, therefore they needed to speed up the process once the initial tests proved to be a match.  It is very rare that someone outside the family will be a match!

The hospital also wanted her to have twelve weeks of recovery time after the surgery.   The surgery was scheduled for late September.   A week or two before the surgery she went hiking and was bitten by a tick.   They then had to postpone the surgery while they ran more blood tests to make sure there were no unexpected complications from the tick bite.   Once they determined that they were cleared to proceed  the surgery was rescheduled for October.   With that delay of the surgery there was a critical and very small window of time for the procedure to take place while allowing  for the recovery time afterward.

Here is an  interesting twist to this story..........when kidney transplant surgeries are planned, the hospital often arranges for pairs of donors and recipients to be prepped for surgery at the same time, a kidney chain, so to speak.    In this case there were two pairs ready and waiting...two donors and two recipients.   This young missionary's kidney did not go to Betty, but to the other recipient who was in need.   In Beth's words,   "Just another cool aspect to the story; while I was in the hospital recovering, there was a guy there named Sean who was also somehow part of our kidney chain. Since I wasn't a match for Betty, we did a paired donor exchange. So I think Betty actually got his kidney, and mine went to the person he was donating on behalf of."

Beth was able to recover in time for her mission trip  and so ended the series of events that started with an email prayer request.....or so I thought.    Last Friday I woke up with the decision to write about this chain of events but knew there were some important details I was not able to recall.   I had not heard from Beth in many months as she did send a periodic update from the mission field.     To my surprise,  I got an email from her that very same morning!!!!     Beth was able to pull together the details of the entire process from start to finish with approximate dates which is how I able to quote the information that she supplied.      God does work in mysterious ways and He always provides what we need......and so often His timing benefits our timing!   How awesome to know I have such a God I can always count on.....from the smallest of details in my life to the enormous moving of mountains......