Today is Memorial Day.. it is a day that originally was set aside to honor those that had fallen in battle during the War Between the States.. both union and confederate. In the early 20th century it was expanded to recognize the fallen of all the wars involving our country.
Since it occurs in the spring and coincided with the old fashioned decoration Days held by many churches, , Memorial Day was became an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as people visited the graves of their deceased relatives in church cemeteries, whether they had served in the military or not. But, the primary focus, even today remains upon those who made the supreme sacrifice in the service of their country. Those that gave not only their freedom but their lives so that we you and I might enjoy freedom.. and so that we might celebrate that freedom by coming together in a place of worship with fear of a dreaded knock upon the door.
This morning I want to share with you the story of two men who paid the ultimate price for that freedom.
The story of the first begins with "Mike" Spann, lingering among the tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery, studying each inscription. He did not know the men buried in those graves but he could not take his eyed from the memorial markers.
His sister standing beside was becoming impatient, “Mike, let's go," she implored. "They're all the same." "No, Tanya, they're not," Mike replied. "There are stories behind them."
Today Mike Spann lies beneath one of those tombstones and I want to tell you a little of the story behind it.
Johnny Micheal Spann was from the small town of Winfield, Alabama. Spann had a strong religious Christian upbringing and graduated in 1987 from Winfield City High School, where he played football. At 17, he earned his private pilot license and later became a certified rescue diver and parachutist. He was a young man who loved his country dearly and wanted to serve it in any way he could.
In December 1991, while attending Auburn University, he joined the Marine Corps Reserve. After graduating from Auburn with a bachelor of science in criminal justice/law enforcement in 1992, Spann attended the Marines' Officer Candidates School at Quantico, Virginia. He had originally wanted to go into aviation, but became a field artillery office In 1997, served as second-in-command for a joint exercise expedition in Latin America and Africa called "UNITAS." He served six years with the United States Marine Corps, including tours in Okinawa, Japan and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, eventually achieving the rank of Captain
Even though he had served in the Marine Corps, at the time of his death, He was not a soldier, a sailor, a marine, or an airman. In fact, many people would not consider him to have been a service man at all. Mike Spann was a member of the CIA. But, as a member of the CIA, he is counted as the first combat fatality of the war on terrorism. He was killed during the invasion of Afghanistan, November 25, 2001.
In an effort to find Osama bin Laden Mike Spann had gone with some Special Forces soldiers to the Qala-i-Jangi. prison near Mazar-i-Sharif.
There Mike discovered John Walker Lindh who would become known as the American Taliban. After interviewing Liindh, he left the prison and was walking away when a grenade went off and a riot at the prison began. Instead of taking cover, Spann turned and ran toward the prison. Another grenade was detonated, severely wounding Spann. But he got up and joined in the fight to support the other Americans who under attack. Sources say that he fought with his AK-47 until it ran out of ammunition, then drew his pistol until it, too, emptied, then resorted to fierce hand-to-hand combat before finally being overcome.
Autopsy reports that showed he had two bullet wounds to the head. That indicates a method of death consistent with an execution-style slaying as the victim was in a kneeling position.
Today there stands a monument erected by the Afghanistan Government to honor Mike Spann’s bravery and service to their country. For service to our country, he was awarded the Intelligence Star, the equivalent of the Silver Star which entitled him to burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
Those headstones are not all the same.. there are stories behind them.
George J. Tenet, the Director of the CIA spoke at the Funeral of Johnny Micheal Spann at Arlington National Cemetery on December 10, 2001. He began his remarks by saying: "Here today, in American soil, we lay to lasting rest an American hero. United in loss and in sorrow, we are united, as well, in our reverence for the timeless virtues upon which Mike Spann shaped his life—virtues for which he ultimately gave his life. Dignity. Decency. Bravery. Liberty. "
During a memorial held in Mike Spann’s hometown, Alison Spann a small girl with a brown ponytail and a red blouse, stood quietly beside her grandfather in the Winfield Church of Christ as he read the last letter she had written to her father, the one she wanted placed in her father’s casket. "Dear Daddy, I will miss you dearly," she wrote. "Thank you, Daddy, for making the world a better place."
When Mike Spann heard that explosion, he could have saved his life by seeking cover but he ran to the aid of his friends and his fellow servants of the US.
Scripture says.. “Greater Love has no man than this.. That he lay down his life for his friends.”
Today, we remember and pay homage to Mike Spann and all the others who, in the service for their country laid down their lives for their friends.. who laid down their life for us.
But we also come together to remember another man whom according to the scriptures, even though he was not a soldier, became a casualty of the longest war ever fought …. The war between good and evil.
He came rushing into battle against the enemy not as General leading legions of battle hardened soldiers but as a tiny baby, born in a manger. And, from the very beginning the enemy sought to surround him and to defeat him making it necessary for his parents to flee from their homeland to the land of Egypt.
When he was 30, he met the enemy face to face in the wilderness armed with only his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. He parried Satan’s every thrust with the word of God and emerged from the confrontation victorious.. He had won the battle but the war was far from over.
During the next three years Satan’s army would seek to destroy Jesus and finally in the garden of Gethsemane, under the cover of darkness and through a despicable plot to betray him by one of his trusted soldiers , his enemy was able to surround him and capture him.
During the next two days, they would beat him, mock him, curse him and spit upon him. They lined up witnesses willing to commit perjury in order to give their actions the appearance of legality and then they put him to death by nailing him on a wooed cross.
I do not seek to elevate Mike Spann to the level of Jesus not do I seek to bring Jesus down, but there are similarities in their stories.
Like Mike Spann, Jesus was not in the military at the time of his death. Like Mike Spann, he fought valiantly with the weapons at his disposal until he was surrounded a riotous mob of the enemy and then killed.
Mike Spann has a special Memorial that has been erected to honor him for his service to us and to the Afghan people. Jesus also has a special Memorial erected to honor his service to people everywhere… It is sitting here on this table..
Mike Spann was placed in a grave he did not own.. It is owned by the American people he sought to serve. Jesus too, was placed in a tomb that he did not own. It was owned by a man whom Jesus died to serve.
But there the similarities end.. Because Mike Spann still lays in his grave but you can search far and wide, you can look high and low and you will not find Jesus’ body because it is not there.. He has risen!
And we need to always rememeber that he fought every battle, endured every wound and even gave his life for you and for me: “Greater Love has no man than this.. That he lay down his life for his friends.”
Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus: Ephesians 6:12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places"
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Paul tells us that the war is not over.. The struggle between good and evil continues. It is a spiritual battle against the forces of darkness that are the current rulers of this earth.. And the members of the church are to be the front line troops. But this war is not to be carried out with conventional weapons.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,"
We are to go into battle carrying the same weapons Christ carried with him into battle. We are to be equipped with knowledge of the Holy Scripture, the love of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
And, once we are equipped with those weapons, we are to go on the offensive.. We are not to cloister ourselves within the walls of a fortress but we are to go on the attack. And, we are to attack, and attack and attack.
Jesus said that he would build His church and the gates of Hell will not withstand it.. If the church is on the offensive they will overpower the gates of hell and free the captives held within leading them to the safety of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.
Folks, those gates stand here in McMinn County.. There are people here who are being held captive behind those gates.. The question is .. will we take the offensive.. Will we set out to do whatever is necessary to rescue them?
Mike Spann died to keep his countrymen physically free.. May we never turn our backs on the sacrifice that he and thousands of others have paid for that freedom..
Jesus Christ died to set men and women spiritually free.. May we never take that great sacrifice for granted and may we always be willing to be at the forefront of the battle with the forces of Spiritual darkness in appreciation of his love for us.
(the story of Mike Spann was developed through several sources found on the internet)
