A Cleansing Day By Steve (J2A leader)
Today was an emotional and cleansing day for us. We saw what can happen if people do not allow the light of Christ to fill their hearts. We visited the Holocaust Museum, and while all of us had heard about the Holocaust & the events leading up to it, to see how it happened was numbing. We saw how through systematic manipulation a planned extermination wiped out nearly the entire Jewish race in Eastern Europe. What was especially chilling for me were the ghastly experiments conducted “in the name of science.”.The light at the end of the tunnel is that the Nazi regime was defeated; we must never forget.
Later we visited several of the national monuments, including the Vietnam War Memorial, commonly known as ‘the wall’. This was to be my cleansing. I am a veteran of the Vietnam War. The memories of that war and it’s aftermath when I returned home were deep. I found the name of a schoolmate. I did not find the names of two others; this was an answer to prayer. My friend and Christian brother, Will, and Katie, one of the students, began to count the lines to find the name of my friend, but it overwhelmed her, and Will had to finish the search. I thought the event was done, but when we got to the Lincoln Memorial, Will suggested that the group thank me for my service. There were lots of cleansing tears and group hugs. The journey to freedom and the light was complete.
We also met a Homeland Security agent named Chris who had served in Iraq. He and I thanked each other for our service; and he gave us many helpful hints for attending the jam-packed events of this Independence Day weekend.
All of the days events repeatedly showed that we must continue allow the light and love of Christ to shine in us and through us. We may not be able to change the world all at once, but we can allow God’s love to touch others through our smiles, kind words, and thoughtful actions.