Back in the 1970’s, I was an office manager for General Electric Corporation in Cincinnati, Ohio. The president of our division was Stu Ladow. The first time I met him, he made an impression on me that has never been forgotten. Let me tell you about Mr. Ladow.
He knew the one secret ingredient in making a company work to maximum efficiency was that its employees needed to be remembered. Mr. Ladow would visit every office in his division each year. When he came in, he would greet each employee by his or her first name.
This showed that he actually thought enough of us to study our names and commit them to memory. And on each visit thereafter, he would say something to that employee that showed he remembered talking to him or her the previous year. Mr. Ladow had an incredible talent for remembering people. And that remembrance made everyone want to produce more for the company.
I don’t know where Mr. Ladow first came upon that philosophy, but I know where the importance of people first started, and that was when God made us.
GENESIS 1:26-27 reads,
‘Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female – He created them.’
God didn’t say, “Let’s make man and see how it turns out,“ or “Let’s make some creatures just to see what they will do.” God made mankind the most important thing in all of His creation! And throughout the Bible, you can see that His major emphasis has always been on people, not things or places. This shows how much God thinks about us, and anyone who would spend that amount of time or energy thinking about us also remembers us.
And today, we are going to be talking about memories, as tomorrow is Memorial Day; the one day each year we dedicate to remembering our fallen heroes. They gave their all so that you and I might continue to live in the land that is free from tyranny.
MATTHEW 24:6-7
‘You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.’
Speaking of wars, each generation seems to spawn its own war, doesn’t it? My great-grandfather had the civil war that he marched south to fight. My grandfather was in Europe during WWI, and my dad was in Europe in WWII. My oldest brother was in the Korean War, I was in Vietnam, and my son was in the first Iraqi war. And your family is probably much the same.
So, as we remember our heroes tomorrow, think about what Memorial Day means to you. Many people only think of having a day off, or grilling in the backyard. Many plan to take trips. What do you plan on doing with your Memorial Day? Whatever you plan on doing, I encourage you to take a few moments out during the day to remember. Remember those who gave their very lives so you could do what you want tomorrow. Again, many people will forget all about our heroes.
A policeman once noticed a lady driving with her head bowed down over the steering wheel. He stopped her and asked her if everything was okay. She said, “For ten years I have been driving my husband to this train station, and I guess it became such a habit that today – I FORGOT HIM!” Sometimes we do much damage by forgetting people, don’t we?
One of the hardest lessons for us to learn is that God did not put us here to focus on ourselves, but to focus on others around us. Take a tip from Mr. Ladow and start remembering those around you, including all those who gave their lives so you wouldn’t have to.
In 2 TIMOTHY 1:3 we see where Paul remembered Timothy.
‘I constantly remember you in my prayers.’
Going on into verse 5, Paul tells Timothy that He is reminded of Timothy’s faith. He could not have been reminded of Timothy’s faith unless he was remembering Timothy. And that is what we are to do, too. We are to remember those around us so that we will know best how to help them and how to guide them towards Jesus.
Since tomorrow is dedicated to our fallen heroes, let us be sure to …
1. REMEMBER THOSE WHO HAVE DIED
Remembering can be a very easy thing to do, or a very hard thing to do, depending on several factors. One couple in their 90’s started having trouble remembering so they talked to their doctor about it. The doctor advised them to start writing everything down so they would not forget it.
One evening they were watching the late news … at 6 PM, and the wife got up to go into the kitchen. The husband asked her what she was going to get and she said strawberry shortcake. He told her to write it down, but she said she would remember. Then he asked her if she could remember to bring him some, too, and she said yes. He then told her he wanted whipped cream on it. She said she could remember that.
When she brought his to him, it had no whipped cream and he said, “I knew you’d mess it up! You forgot my toast.”
In ROMANS 1:8-10, Paul wrote a letter to the Christians in Rome. He said,
‘I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how I constantly remember you in my prayers at all times …’
Paul always remembered other people. He was the Stu Ladow of his day. And tomorrow, many of you might be driving out to gravesites to put flowers down as your reminder that you have not forgotten them, and that you still love them.
As a child, I accompanied my dad to his father’s grave one year. As he stood there by the grave, my mom, brother, and I, stood a little back from him. I heard him tell his dad that he had not forgotten him. And then he said, ’… the more time goes by, the more I remember you.’ And that is how most of us are, isn’t it? The longer someone is gone, the less emotional we might get, but the more we remember.
God bless those who remember our fallen vets. God bless those who remember their departed loved ones! And may God bless all those who know that people count more than anything else. None of us want to be forgotten if we should leave before Jesus comes back, and none of our ancestors want to be forgotten either. And God does not want us to forget them, or what they have done for us.
JOB 14:14 asks,
‘If a man dies, will he live again?’
· Science says if we discover the right technique, he might.
· Philosophy says we hope he lives again.
· Atheists say he will never live again.
What do you say?
In JOHN 11:25, Jesus said he WILL live again!
REVELATION 14:13 says those who are in the Lord will be blessed when they die because their deeds will follow them. When a Christian dies, God sees his deeds and knows they came from his loving heart – and God remembers. We see what he did when he was alive, and that causes us to remember him, too.
As we remember our heroes tomorrow, remember that the story of our nation’s many blessings is written with the blood of her many fallen heroes.
And as we remember those fallen heroes tomorrow, let us also …
2. REMEMBER THE HEROES THAT ARE STILL WITH US
A 15-year old high school boy finally got on the football team. He was so excited, and so he asked his mother to go to the first game. She promised to do so.
After the game, he found his mother still sitting in the stands, and he asked her how she liked the game. She said she was so proud of him the way he pulled up his socks 11 times and how he kept his uniform so clean.
He said, “Mom! I didn’t even get the chance to play in the game, so why were you looking at me?” She replied, “I don’t know the first thing about football, so I didn’t come here to watch the game, I came here to watch you!”
That mother knew that people count more than games. Now games are okay, and they are more important to some than they are others, but no matter what, it is people who reign supreme. And we should be paying much more attention to those around us than we sometimes do.
PHILIPPIANS 2:4 says,
‘Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others.’
Remember those around you in such a way as to cause them encouragement. It has been said that real tact is the ability to describe someone in the way they see themselves. People love to be encouraged; yet too many of us spend our days discouraging others.
Here are two questions you should ask yourself every time you have an encounter with anyone else. “Are they happier than they were before I came along? Are they better off since I came along?” Always try to discover other people’s good qualities so they will not have to do it for you.
GALATIANS 6:9 tells us,
‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.’
As we remember our dead and our living, let us also remember …
3. THE COST OF FREEDOM IS WRITTEN IN BLOOD
When our forefathers tired of the tyranny in Europe and England, they came to this land to start anew. What they soon discovered was that the English military expected them to be under their control.
This forced many new ‘Americans’ to make one of two choices:
· Do I give in and end up with a way of life I just left, or
· Do I pick up arms and defend this new freedom?
Almost to a “t”, the settlers chose to put their lives in harm’s way to defend this nation against more tyranny. The consequences were that much blood was spilled, but this land became a free nation, built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.
And we have had to defend that freedom periodically ever since. It has been estimated that over 3 million men and women have been killed trying to keep America free.
But there is someone else we need to remember, too. That person is Jesus Christ. He saw us under the tyranny of the evil one and He shed His blood so that we could be free from spiritual tyranny.
1 CORINTHIANS 11:24 says,
‘When He had given thanks, He broke the bread and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” ‘
Just as the American Revolutionary soldier willingly sacrificed his life so his children could live in freedom, Jesus willingly sacrificed His life so we could also live in freedom – spiritual freedom.
Just as the WWII vet and the Vietnam vet, or the young men and women who serve today in Iraq have lost limbs or lives so you could have the freedom to barbeque tomorrow, Jesus gave up His life so you could worship His Father in freedom today.
JOHN 15:13 clearly states,
‘Greater love has no one than this – that he lay down his life for his friends.’
And so it stands out clearly that what we remember is the heroic sacrifice made for our benefit. There are two friends who have died for you: The soldier and Jesus Christ. The soldier died for your physical freedom, and Jesus died for your spiritual freedom. We remember our earthly heroes for what they have done for us, but do we always try to remember our Heavenly hero for what He has done for us?
It was on a field in Europe, just a few weeks before Christmas in 1917. The snowy landscapes had been blackened by the carnage of WWI. There were trenches dug into each side of the field; Germans in one and Americans in the other. They spend the day shooting at each other and trying to kill each other.
The land between was a “no-man’s” land. A young German soldier had been shot in this area and had been entangled in barbed wire. He lay there in agony and kept crying out in pain. Finally, as the day started to become evening, his cries weakened down to a whimper.
One American GI could take it no longer, so he crawled out to the German soldier. When the Americans realized what he was doing, they stopped firing. Then, the Germans realized what he was doing and they also stopped firing. In the midst of this eerie cease-fire, the young GI untangled the German soldier and picked him up in his arms and carried him to the German lines.
As he turned to go back to his own trenches, a German officer approached him wearing an Iron Cross. That was the highest German honor for bravery. He faced the young American GI, took it off and hung it around the young man’s neck, giving him the honor for what he had done, and then he saluted him.
After the young GI got all the way back to his trenches, the senseless firing started up again and it was war as usual. There is no doubt in my mind that the German soldier was thankful all his life for the sacrifice of personal safety the American GI had offered.
I am proud to be an American. I am thankful for all the blessings God has given to this country so that I can have the lifestyle I have. I remember our fallen heroes of yesterday and honor them for the sacrifices they made for me.
And I am proud to be a Christian. I am thankful that God loves me enough to remember me. And I do my very best to remember Him through His Son, Jesus Christ, and to focus on Him first and foremost in my life.
As we go into tomorrow’s holiday, let us remember those soldiers who gave everything so we could have the luxuries we have. And let us also remember Jesus who gave everything so we could have the salvation that we have today.
But to remember Him, we must know Him.
INVITATION
