Remembering with love and gratitude those who gave all for the freedoms we embrace today. Their bravery and commitment to serve always remind me that we are made in the image and likeness of God, who gave himself so that we might have life and life more abundantly.

Let us live each day in faith with gratitude for a price paid so that we might have life. Let us demonstrate our appreciation by living and loving well with compassion, mercy, and a spirit of reconciliation. May your life each day be filled with the hope and strength that comes from knowing that you have another opportunity to do it again, do it better, or just do it.

Beloved, each day is a present. Unwrap it with joy and gratitude, and always honor the giver. So that in the final analysis, others will look back and remember that you, too, ran your race well so that others could take up the baton and keep moving forward.

I am grateful today for those who helped me remember all these things: friends, family, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines who I am confident God created and charged to do just what they did so his name would be honored.

On Memorial Day, I remember your life and the deposit you made into mine, and I praise our Father.

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.