The Unknown Soldier

"If you love me you'll send this e-mail back to me and you'll forward it to 10 other people." Since when is the return of a digital communication a measurement of love? It's not. This is just a devise to get the original e-mail to Spam around the world. Soon the delete key on my computer will be worn out!

The one about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery may have popped up on your monitor. I didn't mind. I'd seen it twice before. This time it appropriately arrived the day before thanksgiving. President Bush, in his 2005 Thanksgiving Proclamation, reminded ournation to be grateful for those who served in the cause of liberty. He said: "Our country is grateful for their service and for the support and sacrifice of their families. We ask God's special blessings on those who have lost loved ones in the line of duty."

My visits to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier have been deeply humbling events. This year my 2 minutes' silence at 11am on the 11th dayof the 11th month was in England. With millions, I paused to reflect on how much I owed to soldiers who met and subdued the tyrants' brandished steel.

Wars are often declared for selfish reasons. America may never have entered WW2 were it not for Pearl Harbor. Saddam Hussein probably would still be terrorizing the people of Iraq were it not for our fear that he could sell a nuclear device to Bin Ladin.

Be all that as it may, the ordinary soldiers, whose unnamed bodies lie in Arlington or Westminster Abbey, stood to arms at their country's behest.

The idea for a grave honoring the Unknown Soldier came from Reverend David Railton. In 1916 he was a chaplain at the front in France. Dog tags in those years were made of cardboard. Many were lost in the battles. In a garden at Armentierés he saw a new grave marked by a rough wooden cross with the inscription: "An Unknown British Soldier of the Black Watch".

The idea to honor one of the many anonymous fallen warriors took wings. A spot among the nobles and kings buried at Westminster Abbey was allocated.

Thus with great respect the coffin was brought from France on HMS Verdun, carried by train to Victoria station and arrived by gun carriage at the abbey. During the night, as the train clattered towards London, there were lights on in homes large and humble. The nation took note of the possibility that a lost son, uncle, brother or father might be passing by.

For the last mile the king and his sons walked bareheaded behind the carriage. Many in the throng wept openly as the battle torn flag that draped the bier came into view. After the ceremony 40 thousand people passed by in respect. 200 thousand came to pay homage the next few days.

With months one and a quarter million people visited that grave. The burial place of that ordinary man is revered more than all the poets,kings, generals and statesmen that lie with him at Westminster.

There is an ancient garden in old Jerusalem. It's near the American embassy. Please visit it. You'll find it next to a large bus terminus. Look up above the rumble of the vehicles. As you gaze the craggy hill beyond soon forms into the likeness of a skull.

Don't come to this garden looking for marble, flags, honor guard and ceremonies. In the midst of paths of flowers and shrubs you'll see a roughly hewn tomb. As you approach you note that it's open. People are going inside. You do too. There's nothing to see. As you turn to leave a simple Bible quotation catches your eye: "He is not here - He has risen."

The garden tomb is one of 2 possible sites for Jesus' grave. I care not which. What matters is that both are empty. I owe earthly liberties to the Unknown Soldier, but my eternity was secured at the battle of Calvary. The victory was manifest when death could not hold him. I believe in the resurrection.

Your Legacy:Will you be remembered for great skill or for intense love?

In most self-help courses there is a theme of believe in yourself. The idea is to focus on a goal, marshal your strengths and work each day towards success.

I've always believed in that. My first years of preaching were passionately possessed by the ideal of being good at it!

My public speaking models included a wide variety of styles like John F. Kennedy, Adolph Hitler and Winston Churchill. I preach the Bible and I'm always reminded that love is a powerful theme within it. Thus I'm challenged by a higher goal than effective preaching.

God communicates more through love than He does through skill.

Charles Ludwig Dodgson, an English Mathematician, worked hard at his subject. He wrote a commentary on Euclidean Math in 1879. He was 47 years old and 20 years from his death. He called it Euclid and His Modern Rivals.

I don't know anyone who's read the book!

Not that it was bad.

Dodgson was an Oxford Don and brilliant among his peers. He cut a slim, austere figure, was deeply religious, abstemious and disciplined, rigorously intellectual, and mannerly. He lectured at Christchurch. The math was profound but the verbal presentation was horrible! Only very determined students could stay the course. Every year his classes waned in attendance. Even his book takes effort to read.

Charles wanted to be an Episcopal (Anglican) minister but his shy disposition and his terrible stammer precluded him from the calling. His father was the Canon of Ripon. His friends were pastors and priests. He enjoyed church, but in adult company his tongue consistently failed his profound understanding.

He found that he was most at ease in the company of children.

At 22 Dodgson would tell seaside stories to the kids at Whitby, Yorkshire. Somehow they overlooked his stuttering presentation and were enthralled by his amazing, colorful tales. His passion may have been math but his joy was the delight his stories brought to children. His love for the kids brought out much in the way of creative imagination. Sometimes he'd begin the story with no idea how it would unfold.

On July 4,1862 Dodgson and a friend went on a rowboat ride with the three children of a fellow Oxford lecturer. The middle child's name was Alice Liddell. Some time that afternoon Charles made up a story and chose Alice as the central character.

A chain of events was set in motion that has led to lasting fame for the Oxford mathematician. Dodgson published the story, a sequel and other subsequent works of wit and nonsense under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, a Latinized re-ordering of his second and first names.

Today Alice in Wonderland is a child's tale that spans the globe. Translations continue to proliferate.

His skill was Math but it was his love for the youngsters that became his greatest contribution to the world. It was only after his death that his books became international best sellers.

That could happen to you too.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13 that the greatest of all is love. A century from now it may not be your name on the project or the office door that will be remembered, but rather how much love you showed.

The only thing that counts for eternity is faith expressing itself through love.

Visit that Bible chapter again. Allow the understanding to dawn on you afresh. No matter what you know, say, do, believe or feel there is no lasting worth unless you are also a self-sacrificing, others focused, God glorifying lover.

It's not how much love you've received that matters.

Make the quantity of love you can pack into each day your magnificent obsession. Knowing God is the great reservoir of love for God is Love.