Do you see this beautiful face?
Meet Major Samuel Mark Griffith, USMCR, was Killed In Action on December 14th in 2011.
His mother, Kathy went to my church from the time my children were tiny. She was one of the head nurses when Courson was in the NICU for eight weeks. She always wore bright Lilly dresses to church and hats too. She constantly smiled and truly loved and praised Jesus.
When her son died, leaving behind two sons of his own, her family’s entire existence was forever altered. A gaping wide hole left in their lives, pain that has yet to cease…and all this for what???
I can’t answer that question. But I know it’s not for nothing. I know that Samuel Griffith didn’t die so that you and I could live for anything less than a life worthy of such a sacrifice. I know that Kathy doesn’t battle through the heartbreak so that you and I can just give up in our own struggles. I know that you and I can honor his loss by living each day knowing Sam and so many other soldiers are up in that great cloud of witnesses– cheering us on, urging us forward, pushing us to live our lives to the fullest measure of all God has for us.
Please remember Sam’s family today in your prayers and live each day realizing that our opportunities, freedoms and securities come at a great cost. And if you ever have the great honor of meeting one of America’s Gold Star Mothers, ask her about her son. Watch her pained eyes light up with joy as someone wants to hear about the loved one she is missing more than air. Ask her to share with you about where he served, what his favorite football team was, goofy stories about his adolescence, and memories of how they found out the news. If you have the opportunity to love on a Gold Star family, take it and run knowing their loss and over a million and a half more just like it have given you every freedom and opportunity you have.
[bctt tweet=”Use that life you’ve been given at the cost of theirs. And live it. Make it worth it. “]
Use that life you’ve been given at the cost of theirs. And live it. Make it worth it. Fight hard and push forward in your own battles knowing the battle has already been won from the vantage point of heaven. And honor the loss of great men like Samuel and the grief their families live through daily by making the best and most of what you can in the greatest country the world has ever known. I don’t know why men like Samuel Mark Griffith die…but I know I won’t make it meaningless or trivial. And I know that those who follow this blog won’t let it be either.
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