Today Americans will gather together for parades, fireworks and enjoy picnics of hamburgers, hot dogs and apple pie, all to celebrate something that is truly valuable to us all - our freedom. I thank God for the many freedoms I have while living in this great country. Freedom to worship Our Lord, vote for our government’s leaders, freedom to live and work where I choose and when I need to get away, the freedom to travel from sea to shining sea and visit the purple mountain’s majesty. Freedom, however, is definitely not “free”. We place great value on our freedom and everything that has a value has a cost.
America did not start out as a free country. Over 200 years ago, Our forefather’s paid dearly to purchase this nation’s freedom from the bondage of English oppression and experienced first hand the tremendous value of freedom. However, the battle to protect our rights and freedom did not stop there as our precious freedom is continuously threatened. Ever since the first bullet was fired in the early Revolutionary War to the current war in Afghanistan, countless men and women have paid and are still paying the price for our freedom.
I have many friends and family members who have served in Japan, Europe, Korea, Vietnam, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. My grandfather, Donna Dieu Aymond, was a decorated veteran of World War II, Last year, I had an amazing opportunity to visit France and with the research of my uncle, we where able to track my grandfather’s path from where he landed on D-Day at Utah beach in Normandy down to Paris where he participated in their liberation of the city and where Nazi Germany ultimately surrendered to the Allied Forces. Just like many soldiers who are called to defend our freedom, my grandfather had to leave his bride, baby girl, home, and everything that was constant in his life to fight in a war on foreign soil where everything was unfamiliar and his future was unknown - he didn’t know whether he would live or die, if he would ever see his family again or if they would even win the war making all of their sacrifices in vain.
As a walked the shore line of Utah beach in Normandy, I remember standing in the water and looking up to the bluffs above where the German bunkers still remain to this day. I tried to imagine the terror and fear that must have consumed my grandfather as he was dropped in cold, choppy sea water trying to fight his way up the shore dodging sniper fire and cannon fire while bogged down with wet and heavy military gear. I cant even begin to imagine the horrible living conditions and atrocities he faced and endured as he battled the Germans liberating each town one at a time along the coast of France up to Belgium down to Paris. As I walked the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris and saw the famous Arc de Triumph, I imagined the pride my grandfather must have felt after the liberation of Paris as the American and liberated French soldiers marched together in a victory parade while crowds cheered them on waving flags and banners of thanks.
Like many others, my grandfather served his country with great pride and honor. My grandfather came home to a hero’s welcome but there were many others who didn’t come home at all. I was moved to tears as I visited the American Cemetery located on a bluff overlooking the English Channel where the remains of over 9,000 American soldiers lie in graves all pointing westward to their homeland of the United States. The blood of these brave soldiers was the ultimate sacrifice for their country. To every man and woman who have ever made a selfless sacrifice to help pay the high price of protecting our freedom, our rights and the rights of others, I honor and thank you.
Although I thank God for the freedom we Americans enjoy all over this great land, there is an even greater freedom that I give thanks for today. Over 2000 years ago, our Father in heaven came down to this earth as a man and made the most immense and important sacrifice known to mankind. With his blood, Jesus Christ paid the price in full to purchase our freedom from the bondage of sin. Just as my grandfather and the men who served on D-Day knew the invasion was inevitable, planned and was the only way to defend man’s right to freedom, Jesus Christ knew the crucifixion was an inevitable part of Gods plan and was the only way for His people to have spiritual freedom once and for all. The death of a soldier is usually the result of a mission that went horribly wrong but the death of Jesus Christ was the result of a greater mission that went exactly to plan.
Jesus was in such anguish over what He knew He was to endure that he physically sweat drops of blood out of His pours. Most soldiers knowing they will die if they advance any further may either retreat or surrender. Jesus did neither. Knowing exactly what fate lied ahead, Jesus advanced where He knew the Roman Soldiers were waiting for Him. The soldiers mocked Him and beat Him mercilessly beyond recognition with a barbed whip until His flesh peeled off his body. He was forced to carry a 300lb cross up a mountain and was later nailed to that same cross with 7 inch iron spikes that were driven though his wrists and feet. God’s very own son who was both innocent and sinless died one of the most slow and disgraceful deaths ever known to mankind - all for the sake of our spiritual freedom. Can you imagine any greater love than that? Jesus loved us SO much that He thought our souls were worth all the horrible suffering He would have to endure.
Jesus paid the ultimate price for us to have spiritual freedom and in order for you to enjoy that freedom it will cost you something as well. You will have to realize you are a sinner, know that your sins separate you from God then repent and turn away from those sins. You have to believe that Jesus died for our sins and that his cross is the bridge that connects us back to God. You have to invite Him in to your heart and then live your life for Him. That may seem like a high price for some people but just look at what it buys you - A freedom that can never be taken away, and the right to live eternally with Jesus and Our Father in paradise.
Just as the Statue of Liberty stands tall in New York Harbor and serves as a reminder to all Americans of the sacrifices made for our right to freedom, the cross that stood tall on Calvary Hill serves as a reminder to all Christians of the ultimate sacrifice Jesus Christ made for our right to spiritual freedom. Lady Liberty stands with her right hand stretched out holding a torch to light the way welcoming visitors to a land of freedom where Jesus Christ stretches out BOTH arms and IS the light welcoming all His people to an eternity of freedom. The generations that came before us valued God’s role in achieving our freedom so much that they founded this nation on the great principles of “in God we trust” and “one nation under God.” My hope and prayer is that my generation along with all future generations will also come to know the true value of God in our lives and to always remember that the sacrifices of our forefathers gave us the rights FOR religious freedom and not the rights FROM religious freedom.
