A peace was signed this 11th day of the 11th month at 11 a.m. let us remember that today

It is Veteran's Day and this morning I got to the point in my book about WWI when the armistice was signed and the war ended.  I am reading the newest Follett book, and if you put a gun to my head I couldn't tell you the title, but I am enjoying it (all 800+ pages).  It is a 3 week loan from the library and I thought for sure I would never finish it, but since I have been sick this week, I've allowed myself some reading time during the day (when normally I'd be cleaning or doing other housework) and so I have only 100 or so pages to go!  I love a good historical novel and Follett does a great job of it.

At any rate today is November 11th is I believe my grandfather's birthday, I don't know how old he would be if he were alive, but Dad is in his mid-seventies now, so over one hundred I would guess.  My other grandfather actually fought in WWI - he worked on airplanes as an engineer, but I suspect he also fought, because we have a journal he kept (and I am now motivated to go find it again) and I remember distinctly that there was a German cross from a helmet in there along with lots of pictures.  He couldn't have gotten that unless he were somewhere on a battlefield with dead German soldiers.  At any rate Veteran's Day is one of those days that has always brought me to the contemplation of war and peace.  It has been that way since I was a child, because of the stories my father has told me about growing up during WWII.

So today we honor and remember our veterans.  Here in Jamestown we have many serving soldiers of all the armed forces who are stationed over in Newport for training for brief periods of time.  They and their families  come for a year or 2 and enrich our lives in the schools and the church and they move on.  It is a reminder that war is still a constant in our lives.  We may not be fighting on Flanders fields, but our soldiers are still fighting for us in battles far away from our comfortable and safe homes here in the United States.  So today in my prayers I ask that God watch over all of us and bring an eternal peace and that allows all soldiers to put down their weapons.

Cub Scouts at Veteran's Day Ceremony

Kevin giving the opening prayer