Last weekend I witnessed a group of mostly soldiers walk 35 miles in honor of a friend and brother who gave his life for them and me in this ongoing war.

It’s a very big deal, and they do it every year.

I watched them closely as they marched through humid morning fog, into heat rising off asphalt. Their calves clenched like angular blocks of wood as they marched uphill through the forest. Their shirts darkened with sweat and their socks bloodied inside their boots. As the suffering began, they smiled; they marched; they remembered the one and the many.

76,000 aching footsteps each.

They are bond and brotherhood that stirs choking emotion, fiercely loyal to what they believe in—what they know. They know the enemy is very real, and if they don’t do what they do, freedom will become legend. So they’re the ones who say, Here I am. Send me.

 

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here I am. Send me!’

~ Isaiah 6:8

 

The metaphor cannot be ignored: Jesus Christ turned and pointed directly at their kind to describe the greatest love in existence, the kind of love He has for the whole world, that gives everything to rescue even one—the kind of love people are willing to die for.

 

No greater love has anyone than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

~ Jesus

 

I watched those soldiers and burned with embarrassment at my lack of conviction; but rather than pay tribute to my yawning faith, I prefer to thank them for renewing my perspective.

I want to be as devoted to God as American soldiers are to Freedom. I want to be as determined as Mark’s Brother Thad to keep marching even if everyone else falls away, because he’s driven forward by love. I want to be as willing as my 63-year-old dad to lead by example, no matter the cost.

A prayer was born in me as I watched those heroes live what they believe. I hope to God that by the time my girls are old enough to reconcile what I say with what I do, they find me with dirt on my face, sacrificing myself for the poor, carrying the injured, loving indiscriminately the way my God loves me, blistering my feet to spread truth and freedom in Christ to those waiting to hear the Good News that says because of Jesus, they’ve been set free.

 

God canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them through Jesus.

~ Colossians 2:14-15

 

Not one time as I spent the day with the soldiers offering occasional water and snapping pictures, did one turn to me and say, We bought your freedom. You’ll be free when you earn it.

That never crossed their minds.

All that’s expected of me in response to my blood-bought freedom is to make sure everyone in this country knows they’re free, and to remain free.

 

It’s for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

~ Galatians 5:1

 

For a very long time after the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, slaves who could not read and had no access to outside information, still spent the rest of their lives enslaved because no one told them they’d been freed. The good news of their freedom was intentionally kept from them so they’d remain in bondage and continue to serve the machine of soul-devouring slavery. They were free and didn’t even know it.

When freedom is purchased as a Gift, it’s the job and high privilege of everyone who receives the Gift to spread the Good News.

 

How will they believe if they don’t hear? And how will they hear unless someone tells them?

~ Romans 10:14

 

As a Christ-follower, spending the day with America’s finest was very sobering to me. Those marching men and women inspired me to reach into my pocket for my yes card and sling it.

I want to invade the darkness with light for Jesus, pursuing justice, loving mercy, walking humbly with God, spilling over with gratitude, driven by love and the scandalous report of grace that announces, Jesus paid it all. We are free.

Here I am, Lord! Send me.

 

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You see, at just the right time, when we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

~ Romans 5:6-7

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To read more about the extraordinary life of Mark Forester, please visit:

http://markaforester.com/?catID=26&biography