Find real liberty and freedom
By PASTOR JIM HUGHES Grace United Church of Christ

This past Sunday was a very special holiday. It wasn't Thanksgiving, even though it was

a day to give thanks. It wasn't Independence Day, even though it is a day to celebrate freedom. It wasn't Valentine's Day,

even though

it is a day to think about love.

Veterans Day is a day on which we honor the men and women who have served in the military. We also honor those who have died for the cause of freedom. It is a day for us to say "thank-you" for the sacrifices those men and women have made. It is a time for us to think about the freedoms we enjoy because they were willing to serve. It is a time to think about love; the love they showed for their country and for their fellow brothers and sisters.

Veterans Day is a day we must take very seriously. We can be happy that because of the sacrifice of those brave men and women we honored, you and enjoy great freedom. We can also be happy that even though many of these brave soldiers, sailors, pilots died in battle; that is not the end of their story. Those who had put their trust in God will be raised and will go to be with him. That is a promise from God's Word. Listen to these words from the book of Job: "My flesh may be destroyed, yet from this body will see God. I will see my Creator for myself."

In New York harbor, stretching out her arm, lifting high her torch stands a monument to freedom: the Statue of Liberty. Our brave men and women have served this nation to protect the very thing for which that monument stands.

But there is even a greater monument to freedom than the Statue of Liberty. It is a cross: the cross on which the Son of God hung as he died for your sins and mine. There we find real liberty and freedom because in the Son of God, we are set free from our sin. Our Creator God is the foundation of our country and our Savior.