Freedom – 1 being free a) independence b) civil or political liberty c) exemption from obligation, discomfort d) being able to act, use, etc. freely e) ease of movement f) frankness 2 a right or privilege.

I thought about my uncle Lee this morning. He was in his twenties in 1944. He was in Patton’s tank corp in Nazi Germany. He was attempting to cross the Rhine river into Berlin when the bridge he was on exploded and he and his crew lost their lives. His mother and his father mourned their loss. My grandfather never got over it. His brother and his two sisters grieved his passing. He is our family hero.

This morning I got up and I thought of uncle Lee. I thought about how he loved to quail hunt with his Irish setters. I thought about how many times he must have plowed the fields across the road from the old grocery store at Coleman. I wondered about the twenty some odd Fourth of July’s that he had spent eating watermellon and homemade ice cream on the front porch of my grandparent’s house.

I wonder if he knew just how important was his sacrifice? I doubt he ever dreamed that he was part of something so priceless that it could only be measured in the blood of those who would pay the purchase price. My uncle Lee, and hundreds of thousands like him, gave his life in an effort to make sure that Freedom would be preserved for future generations.

And here I sit at a keyboard in a Baptist church in southeastern Arkansas. I am not worried that I will be disturbed by anyone or anything. I have complete freedom to write whatever my heart desires with no fear of retribution. I will love on my family and eat my watermellon and kick back and watch the fireworks rise as the sun begins to descend from the heavens. But today I would remember uncle Lee and all those like him. And I’ll buy a few more fireworks and I’ll wave the flag a little longer because I know that I am free, not by my own hand but because someone else payed. Someone who was my kin. My uncle Lee.

And, today, I will also remember that there is a deeper freedom that gives me confidence not only in the here and now but in the ever after. It is a freedom that allows me liberty in every breath and thought. It is calms all fears. It washes away all transgressions. It was obtained for me because I had no way of purchasing it for myself. It was bought and paid for by someone closer than my uncle. My Brother sacrificed his life on a cross on a hill outside Jerusalem so that I might have Eternal Freedom. Today I will remember that my uncle died crossing a bridge for freedom sake and that My Brother died to build one.