Notes From The City: An Abundant Life

I'm writing this much later in the day than I usually do. I felt this morning as if I needed to take some time to think about what it was that God wanted me to say, and to wait until tonight to write. It's a holiday weekend, Memorial Day in the United States, and somehow although it's a time that has been designated to remember and honor those who have served in the armed forces, it's become a holiday weekend about barbecues and the beach and going shopping. I love all of those things, and I was looking forward to good food and good sales and some long walks in the lovely weather, but I also was thinking about what the holiday really is meant for and wondering how it is that for many people it doesn't seem to mean that any more.

My father and my uncles served in the Navy in World War II. At that time, every man of a certain age went to war. There wasn't a question about it - they just went. I'm not saying that it's good or bad or that it's right or wrong to have wars, but it's a fact that at one time, in every family with sons, those sons went to war. Since the time of my father and my uncles, women have begun going to war as well, and with a history like that in our not so distant past and continuing on into our present, it seems that everyone would have someone to reflect on and remember, but somehow that's gotten pushed aside in favor of other holiday weekend pursuits.

It's a difficult thing to think about wars. I am someone who pursues peace in my daily life, and I can't imagine being involved in a war. But since the beginning of time there have been battles fought and won and lost, and although I'd rather not think about the violence and bloodshed, they are a reality of the life we live. As I thought today about Memorial Day and my family members who had seen and experienced life in war, my thoughts turned to Christ and the battle He fought and won on the Cross, a battle none of us will ever know the cost of although we were the treasure He was fighting for.

When I was first born again, I met a wonderful graffiti artist at the first church that I attended. I won't tell you his story here - he tells it much better than I can and it is his story to tell. But I will say that he started out on the streets early in life, and has lived through a lot of battles. His early tag was Spain, but then something deep and profound changed in his life because of his encounter with God, and now he is known as Jesus Saves. His tags have been everywhere - around the country and around the world - he's been in videos and he's been painted while he paints, and his tag shows up on newscasts, ads, and in the hottest music videos. I joke with him that I probably saw his tag the year that I was born again, because that was a time of when he was tagging everywhere he could. No matter what battles we are fighting, or whether we believe in war or not, the battle Jesus fought and won is the one we can always rely on. Because He won that battle on the Cross, I'm alive today. Jesus Saves, and I know it first hand, because I know that He saved me.

Jesus Saves

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