Posting vignettes based on great postcards found in my mail box and elsewhere.

Monday, May 31, 2010

Memorial Day Reminds Us Everyday is a Memorial Day

Here is a postcard that reminds us Americans that there are Memorial Days of all kinds that exist with no less significance than our own civil observance to honor the war dead past and present. My experience of Memorial Day means much more, namely that everyday is a Memorial Day -- a day in which I give honor to all the dead whose lives made my life and the life of my country possible.



This card is an entrance to a traditional home in Taiwan. It was sent by postcrosser Ya-Cin of Taiwan. The black characters on a red painted background to the left of the door is a couplet which declares "Jesus is Lord of my family." It is sobering to recall that in most of the world's countries such a sign would be an invitation to ridicule, persecution or death.



Every Christian knows that everyday is a Memorial Day because of Christ's sacrificial death for the atonement of the world's sin and for the untold number of unheralded Christian martyrs world wide throughout history and today.



As a small boy I remember my family would take time each Memorial Day (not yet a legal holiday) and visit the graves of the family's dead. I was so small I didn't yet understand the significance of these visits but did understand the reverence of my aunts and uncles and parents for the memory of their ancestor's life of sacrifice.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Tugging The Heart Strings



A service station that changed my thermostat in November sent this card to remind me that it was time for my next service. My car's windshield would not defog at 30 below Fahrenheit so I resorted to driving dressed in full winter gear and the window down to keep my breath from condensing on the windows. The station didn't ask but I usually change my own oil and do my own lube job. Still, I appreciate the lovely picture and recall that I was secure in my parents car and slept many miles in a similar position even before the era of seatbelts, let alone car seats for children.