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Hopeful Story, June 1, 2014

  On Memorial Day, we joined a large gathering of war veterans in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific for the annual remembrance ceremony. The cemetery is set in an extinct volcano known as the "Punchbowl." The day before, boy scouts had placed a small American flag and a lei on each one of the fifty-five thousand graves.
  When the time came to lay wreaths, a steady procession of sombre men and women walked to the front, including some tough looking bikers whose leather vests identified them as Combat Vets. Then seven soldiers marched forward, aimed their rifles at the sky, and fired. Once. Twice. Three bone-chilling shots that are still reverberating in the Puowaina Crater.
  After the ceremony, Marja approached a woman who was standing alone and crying. "I'm not grieving someone I knew who is buried here," she explained. "It was my dream to enter the military but a birth defect kept me from being accepted." Her name was Shandora, a sister in Christ from New Jersey who moved to Hawaii because of the spirit of Aloha. The two women prayed together and released Shandora's lost dream to the Lord.
  Back in Waikiki, we found a giant stage and fifty thousand people packed together on the beach. As the sun set, musicians pounded drums and a Buddhist priestess encouraged people to love each other. The ringing of a bell signalled the main event, the floating of six thousand lanterns inscribed with messages to loved ones who had died. People lit the candles in their lanterns, waded into the water and released their little boats. On one, we read: "We love you, Mom and Dad. We have done everything you asked us to do. It comforts us to think of you together in Heaven." On another, a woman had written, "I miss you, Paul. I am moving on, but you will always be the love of my life."
  Grief seeks expression. Tears seek release. On this memorable Memorial Day, God met both needs by means of rifle shots in a crater at sunrise and the tinkling of a tiny bell in a lagoon at sunset.
- Pastor Peter



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