{"id":625,"date":"2011-05-30T05:49:16","date_gmt":"2011-05-30T09:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=625"},"modified":"2011-05-25T08:37:52","modified_gmt":"2011-05-25T12:37:52","slug":"remembering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/remembering.html","title":{"rendered":"Remembering"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Memorial Day is the last day of The Special Gathering’s annual camping experience called Camp Agape.<\/em> Each year we take more than 200 people to a camp ground for four-days of fun and fellowship. \u00a0We return Memorial Day and those of us who have served as staff are totally and completely exhausted. \u00a0Our members are mentally challenged and most of them have a secondary physical disability. \u00a0As uplifting as this adventure into our cloistered sub-culture may be, it is also filled with mental stress and bodily exertion.<\/p>\n

As a result for the last 24 years, Memorial Day has been a day observed but not a day of remembering. \u00a0Nevertheless, as the years of war have grown into almost a decade, I am more deeply aware of what these young men and women have given to us. \u00a0My heart is moved remembering the\u00a0sacrifice of our youngest and best adults.<\/p>\n

I am blessed to be old enough to remember the Korean War and the resolves made after World War II. \u00a0Again and again, we were told by our elders, “We must never again let tyranny and oppression threaten the world with destruction.” \u00a0It is the result of the horrible lessons learned during war that we weep at the horrors of battle but continue to send our young adults marching into the face of the unknown.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We pray for peace in the world. \u00a0However, we remember the history of the world. \u00a0Therefore, we are eternally grateful for the freedom we enjoy. \u00a0I always thank God when I read the slogan of a bumper sticker of a rusty and battered truck, “Freedom is not free.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Memorial Day is the last day of The Special Gathering’s annual camping experience called Camp Agape. Each year we take more than 200 people to a camp ground for four-days of fun and fellowship. \u00a0We return Memorial Day and those of us who have served as staff are totally and completely exhausted. \u00a0Our members are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,3,40,10,16,120,103,28,85,12,4],"tags":[690,697,21,688,696,7,699,691,694,707,19,57,692,121,700],"class_list":["post-625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-faith","category-inspirational","category-intellectual-disability","category-memorial-day","category-mental-health-month","category-mentally-challenged","category-prayer-2","category-religion","category-simple-truths","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-camp-agape","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faith","tag-inspirational","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-memorial-day","tag-mental-retardation","tag-prayer","tag-religion","tag-remembering","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nRemembering - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/remembering.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Remembering - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Memorial Day is the last day of The Special Gathering’s annual camping experience called Camp Agape. 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Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Remembering - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/remembering.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Remembering - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"Memorial Day is the last day of The Special Gathering’s annual camping experience called Camp Agape. 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