It was the year 1968 in late November when my draft card number was called and I was to report for my physical exam before getting orders of where I was to serve in the military. I graduated high school the year before and a few months later I turned 18. I saw many of my friends go to Vietnam to serve this great country and I was proud that my opportunity had also come.
I was excited to now be able to do my part and actually looked forward to the day of the physical. I arrived on schedule with a lot of other kids. I say “kids” because from my point of view today, we were just kids. We really had no life experience and knew far less than we thought we did. We all had one thing in common, our immediate futures were in the hands of Uncle Sam.
If you have seen the newer version of the movie, Captain America, you might remember the skinny, wimpy, virtually muscleless looking young man (soon to become Captain America) eagerly getting his physical. If you put my head on his body, you can imagine what my physique was like.
Both the movie character and I were eager to do our part in defending our country. Both of us were skinny as all get out. Both of us were rejected for medical reasons. My documents listed me as 4F just like him. It seems my bout with adolescent epilepsy disqualified me for service. I was crushed and had one of the longest drives home of my life.
Time passed as friends and relatives went off to serve while I tried to come up with plan B. There was a young man from my high school class who I had become casual friends with who had also gone to Vietnam. His name is Greg Fisher from Parma, Ohio. We hung out a couple times during our time in high school and had a class together. Time passed and a mutual friend told me of an article in the local paper about Greg being taken by the war. He had one last patrol to do then he would be on his way home. Sadly, that last patrol took his life and he made the greatest sacrifice for his country anyone can ever make.
You and I enjoy the freedom to do and be whatever we want to because of men and women like Greg. I am sure he had a lifetime of plans and hopes and dreams that were put to rest with him. I enjoy a freedom and live in this great country free from war and tyranny because of all those who have served. In a real sense, I have a freedom I don't deserve because I did nothing to earn it.
While still in bed thinking about Greg and my inability to do my part in battle during a great war my mind wandered to another sacrifice that was made for me.
It was the year 33 in a land far away. There was a man who devoted His life to the war that had become world wide and rages on to this day. We are told this man felt all the things we feel so I imagine He also had dreams and desires as we all do but He set them aside to do battle. He made the greatest sacrifice any man could make and gave His life.
He gave His life in a war between good and evil. He gave His life in a war not only for our freedom in this life but also for our eternal life. Jesus Christ went to war with the most evil forces this world has ever seen and defeated them. His victory was not with a nuclear bomb but with an empty tomb. Even though wars like Vietnam are over, battles and threats of war are still part of our lives to this day. However, the war for our souls and eternity is over and won by one man, Jesus Christ.
Jesus left home to go to a foreign land to fight a fight on behalf of millions of others. I feel the same kind of gratitude towards Him as I do to my friend Greg but to an immensely higher level. I did nothing to deserve or earn what I gained from Jesus’ sacrifice. He took on a level of evil we will never understand and was victorious. Sure, they nailed Him to a cross and thought it was over but Jesus wasn't done yet. They buried Him in a tomb and thought that was the end of it but Jesus wasn't done yet. He came back from the tomb, walked among His people and was seen by more people than those who deny Christ will ever tell you. They tried to cover up Jesus’ victory. They still try to even to this day. Evil still wants to defeat you and I and rob us of what Jesus did for us. They think if they lie to us and present false information to us they may still win. They have tried to cover it up every way they could. They have tried to tell you it never happened and He never existed. However, the truth is the war is over and they are defeated and Jesus is still not done.
Jesus is here for you and for me every minute of every day. His eyes are constantly on us. His love for us never runs out. Yes, Jesus is victorious. The war is won. Because of His victory and His undying love for us, we have been given the promise of eternal life. We have been given something incredible we don't deserve and did nothing to secure. We have been given something so amazing we cannot fully understand it.
I am not saying those who have given their lives for this great country are to be compared to Christ. I believe I was led to open with what I wrote to help make what Jesus did more tangible. Jesus had a life, a family and friends. Jesus toiled and worked, loved and hurt. He laughed at weddings and felt the loss at funerals. He surely felt the burden of fighting for every person ever born and yet to be born. He felt the pain of the whip and the piercing of the nails and a sword. He felt the darkness of death. He did all of this for you and me.
But Jesus wasn't done yet. He went one step further! He gave us the gift and victory of the empty tomb. He not only defeated the evil enemy, He defeated death itself that we also might one day live a life eternal!
Jesus fought for you and me and His win and His sacrifice give us a new life that will never end-never, ever!
We rejoiced in the streets after WWI and WWII. We always rejoice as wars end. Don't we need to rejoice daily for the war that Jesus won? Don't we need to be humbled and grateful for getting something we don’t deserve and did nothing to get?
When we stop and consider all He has done are we overwhelmed with joy and thankfulness?
The promise of eternal life is here for you and me. It will never be withdrawn. You will never be asked to pay for it. You have it. You didn’t earn it. You don’t deserve it.
Simply put, it is a gift. It is a personal gift to you from the Savior. It is a gift born of love and paid for with His life and resurrection.
All you need to do is believe.