Seize a Moment to Honor
On Sunday Ray and I made a sad trip to Crossville, Tennessee, for the funeral of my cousin Tina’s husband, Daniel. I have so admired Tina for taking such loving and excellent care of her husband after his stroke seven years ago. When I would ask her how they were doing, her attitude was always beautiful. “We’re fine” or “We’re blessed,” she would say.
Daniel passed away last Sunday from complications from his severe injuries during the Vietnam War. He passed away on his 77th birthday.
Daniel served in especially difficult roles in Vietnam and the memories were very hard to overcome. He also suffered deeply from the way some Americans treated Vietnam vets when they returned home. Daniel learned to trust Jesus to forgive him and also learned to forgive the Americans who treated him and other veterans so badly. He became a loving and compassionate man who helped many other veterans of the Vietnam War.
Ray and I are grateful that we got to know him. We are grateful for the service we saw on Sunday, including the touching words of Tina, Daniel’s son, Daniel’s son-in-law (a fellow Marine), and the minister; the salutes from many of Daniel’s fellow Marines; the presentation of an American flag to Tina; the three-volley salute; and the playing of Taps.
In a society where it often seems that respect and honor have gone out of style, it does my heart much good to see it in action.
Tina was very grateful that three of her first cousins were able to join her at the her husband’s funeral—my cousin Debby; my brother Steve, and me. Before we went, I thought about how special it would be to get a photo of us cousins together. As we gathered for our photo on Sunday, we four, who are the oldest cousins on my mother’s side of the family, all remembered a photo taken of us many years ago. We tried to remember the order we were in back then. To my delight, I found the picture after Ray and I got home. It was in my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary photo album.
When Tina texted me on Sunday evening, I texted her the picture. She wrote back, “Yes, we got the order right.”
Here we are on Sunday.
Debby and I are wanting to find a pickup truck and do it right.
The pictures we used to take of our mothers and our Uncle Joel at family reunions were my original inspiration for Sunday’s photo. Here is one of those pictures.
There are many ways to show honor. It’s important to remember to seize the moment to do that whenever we can.
Render to all what is due them:
tax to whom tax is due;
custom to whom custom;
fear to whom fear;
honor to whom honor.
Romans 13:7