The Record

The Record

“I will not die but live and proclaim
what the Lord has done.”
                          Psalm 118:17

In Gettysburg, statues with well defined meanings, markers to denote where troop lines were, and a restored battlefield down to the trees being removed because they weren’t there in the 1860’s tell the story and declare the record of the bravery of men from both sides in our nation’s civil war. In Washington, the record is told at every turn and in every building, the record of a nation founded on the mercy of God and built by the dedication, hard work, ingenuity and sacrifice of men and women of many succeeding generations. It is a record that we need to have; it’s permanence contradicting modern claims of a separation of church and state never intended by our founding fathers.

That God is found in the record of our nation should not surprise us. That God’s providence and grace, mercy and favor are the very building blocks of the modern nation the United States has become is a record that time would erase were it not for the marble and granites halls, stone monuments and memorials on which our nation’s history is engraved. We owe a debt of thanks to those who thought it important to record and to memorialize for future generations those heroes who established a Christian nation in the wilderness of America as well as those soldiers who protected our freedoms and those of so many other nations on other continents around the world.

The significance of the Holocaust Memorial has taken on new meaning in much the same way as leaders of certain nations deny that the Holocaust ever took place. The pictures and films taken by our soldiers when they liberated the occupants of concentration camps throughout Germany provide a record that says otherwise. The testimonies of survivors also paint pictures that no denial can erase; their story is recorded for future generations to learn from and prevent.

The many books in my library provide another kind of record, the record of men and women whose lives of faith have changed the world, Finney, Wesley, Kuhlman and Graham to name a few. And now it’s our generation’s turn to provide a record of faith and service, dedication and commitment to our nation. What is memorialized, recorded and written about us will tell a story; what we do will make up a record of the sacrifices we were willing to make to advance the cause of Christ in the nations of our world.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church