Happy Memorial Day and Pentecost Sunday!

By Robert Anthony

May 24th This year Memorial Day and Pentecost almost fell on the same day. Of course Memorial Day traces it's roots back to the Civil War is a memorial for all our soldiers and military men who gave their lives in the line of duty, preserving freedom for this nation.

Pentecost was the day the Holy Spirit was given to Jesus' brand new apostles and is widely accepted as the birth day of His Church.

What a powerful time of remembrance this weekend! We are memorializing two groups of soldiers this weekend: the soldiers who died for our United State of America and the mighty men and women of God, those spiritual soldiers who first birthed Jesus' Church!! All Glory be to God.

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These precious ones who we remember laid down their lives so that we might live, live free, live free to seek our God - speaking of those first apostles of the Lamb, we have the scriptures and know the most precious things of God because of them! But what if no one is willing to suffer for a cause!?

The reason we have these days of memorial is to wake up our hearts and souls to remember those few who chose to trade their lives away for a cause: America as a beacon of light and freedom in a world still highly enslaved to ruling classes, those who have little to no thought for their subjects, and, the first Church, the first believers and those first apostles of Christ, many of whom laid down their lives for the sake of this gospel, for it to be known to the whole world!

And for what are we trading away our lives?

Our days are passing. Hours and moments are past that we will not get back, ever again. We are trading our youth, our hopes and dreams, we are trading away our most precious moments on this earth, and for what? Will our lives be worthy to be remembered? Even if only by a few, will we love them enough that they would memorialize our lives and the time they had with us? We aren't going to get a second shot at this! There won't be a "do-over". What we choose do with these days God has given us will either be remembered or they will be forgotten, for all of eternity... Sobering thought. The hours we spend watching television and the news. The hours we spend wasting away time on our phones. The countless days we spend trying to make more money (and yet hardly getting ahead). Sobering. But these are the messages we must be writing and sharing among ourselves.

"Make this life count, Lord!"

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I had two grandfathers serve in US wars: WW2 and Korea. My grandfather that fought in WW2 was a real war hero. Was he honored in his life? I can tell you this: he died at 74 years old while working at a Taco Bell as a cashier. He was quite literally a war hero. He was with the liberating forces who first discovered Hitler's concentration camps.

We should honor our veterans, especially the veterans for foreign wars. We should buy their coffee's, pay for their meals at restaurants, honor them with kind words and acknowledgement of their service and more! It's the very least we can do. Let's honor our soldiers this weekend - but we should also honor our ministers, our missionaries, our evangelists and other men and women who have devoted themselves of holiness, a life of service and devotion to God and man, trying to inspire the world to Jesus and further into His kingdom.

Some other ministers might not deserve much honor. Some of today's ministers are practically robbing from the poor to make themselves rich, I have seen this far too often. But we should honor the people who are actually living their lives for the Kingdom of God, in Spirit and in truth. And in honoring these precious servants of God and man, we might just wake ourselves up, coming away from abject mediocrity and finally come to faith: a life worthy of the kingdom of God (and His Christ)!

When the body starts to wear down, when the grey hairs start to replace the color we once had - when we enter the twilight of our lives, will we live with regret or reward? The reward of a life well-lived before God is our testimony, and no man will take that away from us. But the punishment of a wasted life is regret, wishing we could start over and try it all again but knowing we can not.

On this Memorial Day and Pentecost Weekend let us take an account of our lives remembering how short truly it is. Let us honor those who have come before us and traded away their lives for some great cause, especially winning souls! Let us give God thanks for them and in doing so, bless our own hearts and souls.

Time is short. And it's never too late to awaken to righteousness. It's never too late to give our lives over to God for a great purpose and calling! And it all starts in prayer.

It's not too late. It's not too late to tell your long lost son (or daughter) that you love him (or her), it's not too late to seek forgiveness from the souls that we have wronged, it's not too late to love your wife or husband and start your marriage over again, it's not too late to give God your life and allow Him to turn it into something worthy of eternity! God will redeem the time, He can redeem the days and years that were stolen from us. He's just that powerful. He just needs a willing soul.

God bless you all this Memorial Day and Pentecost Weekend. I really love so many of you reading this!

Love to the saints and soldiers, The Best is Still yet to Come, In Jesus name, Robert