Days Gone By...

When Robert Burns first set to paper the words of an ancient Scottish tune, I can't say whether he knew how much "Auld Lang Syne" would mean to so many people over the centuries since 1788.  We know it is traditionally sung as we close out one year and look forward into the new.  We sing it as we look back over the events of the year, and to recall fondly the friendly bonds we've shared.

This year, to me at the least, the song has taken a deeper meaning.

My small band of friends has seen, and experienced much this year.

We have heard the pained cries of family and onlookers as we tried to save their grandmother and child from a house fire.

We attended their double funeral, and were treated as honored guests.

We have heard the cries of a mother as we tried vainly to save her precious young son, lost in a violent car crash.

We have renewed our friendship with her as their case maneuvered through the legal system

We have taken that mother's personal belongings back across state lines, so she and her daughter could rebuild their lives.

We have seen the faces of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, and many other Gold Star Families from the Yanky-72 Marine plane crash back in 2017.  We have held their hands, heard their stories, led them to the places where their respective loved ones were found in a Mississippi soybean field, watched them scoop a handful of that rich soil, and heard their cries.

We also heard their unending thank-you's, speaking to and about us in the same lofty terms we reserve for those men and women who carry and defend the flag of our great Nation.

We have told the stories of those fifteen Marines and Navy Corpsman to any who have invited us.

We speak of Mississippians, and how proudly they should hold their heads high for overwhelming those Gold Star families, and showing them just why we're known as the Hospitality State.

We have forged friendships and walked fearlessly into less than settled situations with our friends in law enforcement, to provide medical care to them and victims of needless crimes.

We have folded the flag over the casket of a retired fire chief, and heard his widow tell us "I'm so glad you could do this."

We have read the words of a friend, a Marine Colonel, proclaiming that we all are called as warriors for Christ, and we are to be the compassionate warriors in that cause.  Stop by www.rightmakesmight.com and pick up a copy for the new year.

The song includes the verse:

And there's a hand my trusty friend! 
And give me a hand o' thine! 
And we'll take a right good-will draught, 
for auld lang syne.

So to Millard, Paula, Amber, Eric, Lynda, Joe, Ashley, Gayle, Deneen, Cassie, Flynn, Ed, Jeff, "Bucky", Mike, Clifton, Toni...so many more:  Here's a hand, my trusty friend, and give me a hand of thine, let's take a right good-will drink, for Days Gone By.

Grace & Peace, friends.  Make 2019 count.