Daniel Van Wilder

What is a Veteran?

The ones who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem except in parades.

Some Veterans bear visible signs of their service; a missing limb, a jagged scar,

A certain look in their eye, but others carry the evidence inside them;

A pin holding a bone together, or a piece of shrapnel in their body,

Or an emotion-packed memory deeply buried in the recess of their minds.

He’s the cop on the beat, who spent six months sweating in the sands of Iraq,

Making sure that armored personnel carriers did not run out of fuel.

Maybe he’s the doctor or nurse who wept in the jungles of Da Nang when a buddy fell.

He’s the POW who went away as one person but who returned

As one totally different or maybe he didn’t return at all.

He’s the Quantico Drill Instructor who didn’t see combat

But who saved countless lives, turning slouchy, no-account Red-necks,

Straight-laced momma’s boys and street wise gang members into Marines,

Ready to serve, willing to fight, alert to any form of danger

And teaching them to watch each other’s back.

He’s the three anonymous heroes in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

He’s all those who lied buried in the Punchbowl at Normandy

Or in Arlington National Cemetery with crosses forever preserving the memory

Of all those whose valor on the battlefields, high in the clouds, or on the oceans deep

Slipped into the tomb of Eternity without its just reward.

He’s the old guy bagging groceries or offering help in some local shopping man,

With a palsied hand, a heavily lined face and a step that’s slow.

Now he’s that lonely man sitting on a bench wishing that his wife was still alive

To hold him and offer comforting words when those terrible nightmares come.

A Veteran is one who was willing to sacrifice his ambitions

So others would not have to sacrifice their dreams,

He walked the Bataan death march, he helped liberate a Nazi death camp.

He’s an ordinary yet extraordinary human being

Who offered his life’s most vital years in the service of His country.

A Veteran, why he’s a Soldier, A Servant and a Sword against the darkness

And he’s nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony

On behalf of the finest and the greatest nation on planet earth.

He’s the man who deserves our gratitude.

So, to those who have served our country faithfully, let us say “Thank You!”

Astronomers estimate that there is somewhere around a billion trillion stars in the universe. Now I know how they can sell names for stars. There are more stars than we could ever name. Yet in Psalm 147 this is what the Bible says about the stars.

[God] determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. (Psalm 147:4)

God knows every single star by name and put it where it’s supposed to be. If God knows and keeps up with all the stars, do you think he can keep up with us? Here’s some more of what Psalm 147 says.

3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)

Just as he knows the stars, God knows us by name. Jesus says God knows us so well that he even knows the number of hairs on our head. So what we learn from this is that no matter what we face God knows it. He is with us to bring us comfort and to give us strength. The good news as we gather here today is that we don’t face this life or death alone. God is our shepherd that provides for us daily and restores our souls. He guides us and comforts us. He is always with us to bring us comfort and to give us strength.

What we learn from the Bible is that:

Death is not the end but the beginning

Death is not a loss but a gain, and

Death is not a defeat but a victory

My prayer today is that you will know this hope the Bible gives and that you will know God who gives comfort. As David wrote:

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and staff they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.