Last week we commemorated Remembrance Day, a time ranking next to Christmas and Easter in significance to me. Watching the annual parade of men and women dressed in their uniforms, medals proudly dangling from their chests, fills me with gratitude for their willingness to sacrifice so that our country could be free. I pray I will never grow indifferent to the price they paid.
It was with great appreciation, then, when I heard that one of our largest grocery stores would be closed on November 11 out of respect for those who served and continue to serve in the Canadian armed forces. "Good for you," I thought. "That way employees can attend the Remembrance Day service and pay tribute at the Cenotaph. Not only that, the entire community will be reminded that respect and gratitude are alive and well where we live".
To see the manager of that store lay a wreath on behalf of the company brought another rush of pride that this retail outlet was part of our community. Wrongly assuming that the rest of our citizens felt that way, I was shocked and dismayed to learn that the next morning some individuals phoned the store to denounce the manager for his decision. Scorn for doing wrong is one thing; scorn for doing right, that's another. There were, after all, other options for shopping.
Thank you Guy and employees for honouring our vets; thank you men and women who have stood for freedom and human rights. Above all, thank you Lord Jesus for the scorn you endured and the death You died so that we could have salvation.
"The time is always right to do what is right." Martin Luther King,Jr.
"You were bought with a price So then, honour God and bring glory to Him in your body." I Corinthians 6:20
