A few Sundays ago, one of our pastors, Alberto Bent, presented an impassioned message about personal wealth. It wasn't directed at the congregation's pocketbooks, but more at the wealth that each human being possesses that springs from the depths of our hearts; the types of wealth that is in-born, God breathed through His gifts of the spirit. He used as the basis of his text the word "Chayil," which, if I am correct, is a derivative of the Hebrew word "lyx." Some of the definitions of chayil are highly respected, riches, strength, strong, substance, worthy and wealth.
The point of the spear of his message is that what each of us is willing to give up better defines us than what we would hold onto selfishly. As an illustration he told a story of three men of God; a Rabbi, A Catholic priest, and a protestant minister, all of whom were aboard a merchant ship during World War Two that was transporting troops to fight in the European theater. A German U-Boat was in the immediate vicinity and successfully targeted the ship with a direct torpedo hit, dooming the vessel to a watery grave. Those men who were not instantly killed or mortally wounded by the initial impact of the torpedo, came pouring forth in mass confusion from the decks below, all scrambling to secure a place in the life rafts that were hurriedly being deployed. In their haste, some of the men failed to secure their personal life vests before arriving on deck and were visibly panic stricken at the prospect of having to abandon ship without them, being all but certain that in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic, they would not long survive. Realizing that these men would surely perish in short order without their vest, each of the men of God removed their personal vests and gave their vest to a solider who had none, knowingly assigning themselves to depths of the frigid ocean. As the ship began in earnest to slip beneath the surface, these three men of faith were witnessed holding each other's hands and singing a hymn. To all who witnessed thus heroic act of selfless sacrifice came with it a true definition of the word "chayil."
This past Saturday, June 6th, marked the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, where the 156,000 combined Allied forces of the United State, Britain, and Canada came ashore on the French coast of Normandy. Before the American assigned beachheads of Omaha and Utah had been bloodily secured, approximately 1,465 of our country's youth of promise were killed, 3,184 wounded, 1,928 missing in action and 26 captured as prisoners of war. There are today twenty-seven dedicated cemeteries dotting the picturesque and tranquil French countryside that serve as the final resting place for the remains of the over 110,000 dead from both sides of the conflict.
Just as the three men of God who gave up their lives for their fellow soldiers on the doomed ship had their personal story of worth and value, so did each one of the interred thousands of the forever departed souls in the twenty-seven cemeteries have a personal story that had only begun to unfold. History without consequence is like love without affection. We do each of these souls a grave injustice by being merely content to raise Old Glory and touch the tips of our caps in passing appreciation without taking into account the supreme sacrifice each made in defense of a cause each felt compelled to uphold...a total sacrifice of oneself for the greater good of others. We live today as the beneficiaries of that sacrifice. Our chayil is more than an accumulation of wealth in the traditional sense. Our wealth of freedom springs forth from the strength, strong substance of character and the undiminished worth of each of these souls who gave their last full measure of devotion so that this present generation might count their untold blessings of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. So much is owed to so, so many. In homage for their sacrifice we are compelled to be the better men and women, serving diligently to be the guidepost to those generations who shall yet follow....less these sacrifices be lost to mere words printed on history's impassioned pages.
"No one has shown stronger affection than to give up his life for his friends." - John 15:13
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