Forget-Me-Not

No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you - Joshua 1:5

Many of the Vietnam Veterans that returned home wish they could forget the dark memories of their time in the jungle.  One of those people is part of a father-son team that owns two car dealerships.  I have known both for many years.  Although I thought I knew everything about this family, the most important part of the father's story was never disclosed until yesterday.

Some memories are just too difficult to share.  After hearing this man's amazing story, I got an opportunity to see the son at the other location and I told him how happy I was to learn so much from a true hero.  The son told me that his father almost never talks about Vietnam...too many painful memories.

How can someone who sacrificed so much keep this part of his life a secret?  I am talking not one, but two purple hearts!  Perhaps the answer lies in the anguish that is associated with the past.  Maybe it is the daily ache that this man carries deep inside of him?  Is the shrapnel that is so dangerously close to his spine part of something that can never be removed?

I got an email from another special relative yesterday and she shared a story about her garden.  She had planted some seeds that were given to her at a funeral service for my father's second wife.  The seeds that she planted started blooming and my relative shared that it brought back fond memories of Molly and my dad.  The flowers that bloom in her garden are called "forget-me-nots".

Each day as I add to this blog, I feel like I am walking on a tight rope.  I knew that God had been calling me for a long time to publish, however, like my friend with the two purple hearts, there are days when I would rather not share memories from my time in the cave...too much shrapnel close to my heart.  I deliberately made this blog hard to find hoping that only a few people would read it.  God has different plans.

The focus of this blog will always be on you, the one searching for the meaning of your life.  I will share all the good that Jesus has done for me so that you can have hope...hope that no matter how difficult the challenges are in your life...there is a flower blooming in Heaven planted by God to remind all of creation that you will never be forgotten, just like Molly.  Her flower is blooming today in Heaven, and, thanks to my relative, it also blooms today on earth...