Follow Me!

There are so many events and moments from our weekend in Normandy that I could blog about, but I will tell you about one of moments that I hope I will never forget...

I've never been much of a history buff. I grew up watching war movies with my Dad, but I had no real scope of what World War II was about. I understood Hitler was in Germany and America decided to intervene. This weekend I began to grasp a little more about the war, the people involved and the deep respect that is due the brave men and women who fight for our freedom.

Bruce Dower, a Cadence Hospitality House Director, served as our historian on our trip to Normandy, France. At key locations, he would show us a map of our location, tell us of the battle plan and stories of people who were involved in that section of the war. The talk that I found most moving was the attack on Omaha Beach.

If you have any knowledge of the war, you know that Omaha Beach was one of the bloodiest sections of the D-Day invasion. Almost every part of the invasion went wrong and many lives were lost on that beach. As Bruce tells the story, you can visualize the dead men littering the beach and how awful it must have been to be one of the living men on that frightful day. As men to make it to the sea wall, they began to cluster, not wanting to move from wherever they were for fear of being shot. They were pinned down and there was not much hope of survival or accomplishing the mission. Bruce let that realization sink in and they he said, "How did they get off the beach? It began with one Sergeant who would find another soldier and start yelling, 'Get your "butt" off of this beach!'. Another soldier found a group and starts barking 'Finish the mission. Take that hill.' 'Follow me!'" You cannot help but be moved by their bravery and leadership in such dire circumstances.

As my mind began to wander, picturing these pockets of men being led off the beach, I thought about the words, "Follow me". I have always associated those words with Matthew 4:19 where Jesus Christ is calling to Peter and his brother Andrew to follow him and he will make them fishers of men. I admit that I had always imagined those words to be a rather mellow calling, more of a "Hey guys, when you're done catching fish, come join me for a cool adventure." After hearing these words echoed on Omaha Beach, while imagining such a hopeless situation, I began to picture Jesus Christ calling to all of us during our own times of crises. WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF WAR, and He is calling us to follow Him! It's not a wimpy invitation to come and join His cool adventure called Christianity- it is a command to "Get off our butts and finish the mission!" He is urging us to follow Him and get off that beach of despair!

I know I will never read that passage in Matthew the same again, and I will never watch a World War II Movie or documentary without that renewed respect for our military and the Allies.