Earn This

Saving Private Ryan was on cable this evening, running through surround sound so it sounded like WWII in the den. I don’t believe in coincidence; instead accepting that those things which I experience have been placed or arranged in order that I might better understand life and all that is associated and pertinent to my eternal progression.

David Fraser was buried this afternoon ( link via title bar ); did we earn the terrible price he paid, the grief his family is going through? Should we as a nation consider how we live our lives and strive to balance the price that has been paid with righteous efforts each day?

In the movie there is a letter read aloud by a compassionate general, the letter was originally written by Abraham Lincoln to console a family for the loss of a son. If you have a chance to listen, those words are as relevant today as they attempt to explain the cost of life and liberty. Private Ryan returned to his family while they grieved for the other brothers killed in combat. I could not help but wonder how the scales of liberty and justice must be weighed at such a heavy cost as David was laid to rest.

I avoided watching a good portion of Saving Private Ryan; the extreme end of realism that they were able to accomplish with modern movie making methods. That having been said; the movie presented those scenes with a purpose that justified having to endure the graphic trials of combat. I made sure to watch the last part where Private Ryan observed the mortally wounded Captain struggle to get his attention, leaning close to hear his dying words, “Earn this”.

The next scene is fifty years later as Ryan visits the grave yard and stands there in humility for the sacrifice of so many making his life possible. I’d written on this a while back; contemplating Ryan’s question, “Am I a good man?” and extending that to my own life.

http://tfsternsrantings.blogspot.com/2005/11/am-i-good-man.html ( I can't hide a link when it is to one of my own blog articles; go figure )

Christ was born on Christmas Day to take up the sins of the world, to become our mediator with the Father. As we celebrate His birth, His life and His death; may we have the conviction of character to understand all that has been done for us.

There are many who would have us believe that because Jesus died for us that all we need to do is leave the loose ends up to Him, that by Grace we will be redeemed and return to our Father in Heaven. While it is true, that not one of us is without sin and that the Grace supplied will bridge the gap between us and God; there is no reason to believe that we should not keep that gap to a minimum. I’m of the opinion that if we listened, really listened, up close to our savior as he hung there bleeding, close enough where we could feel his breath on our ears, we might hear, “Earn this”.