FLAG DAY JUNE 14

Hey Gang:  I had a wonderful friend who I respected for many years with all my heart.  I was honored when the family asked if I would do his eulogy.  When asked who were the people in my life that impacted on my life, Bill Porteous was always among the top of my list. 

Bill was drafted into the Army during the Second World War and spend his time preparing in boot camp and when the day arrived for him to debark, as he was waiting for his turn to go up the gang plank, he became seriously ill.  After a series of test in the hospital it was determined that he had polio and spent the next year or more in an iron lung fighting his own personal war. 

He eventually won the battle but it left its scars on his body.  As I sit here at this moment, I can still see Captain William Porteous at dusk lowering the flag that he faithfully raised in the morning before going to work.   I always thought he never stood taller than when he religiously, and with great loyalty, to his country lowered the colors.

My bride found the following story in a 2005 Guidepost of another person who loved the stars and stripes and originated a day that our nations should honor our flag.  I do not believe all honor or love our flag or nation as the warriors who laid down their lives to protect this once great nation. 
That saddens my heart.  I am proud to have served the United States of America.

Take a moment and put all things out of your mind and honor stars and stripes that represent the multitudes of men and women that have laid down their lives to protect its shores even though it is the day after designated Flag Day.

Tuesday, June 14,  Daily Guidepost

Scripture: And, behold, God Himself is with us…. ---II Chronicles 13:12

I doubt the Wisconsin school teacher who originated the idea of Flag Day in 1885 could have ever imagined the places he could see the Flag displayed today. (2005).  Today I saw a flag flying on a car antenna, stuck on a store window, pinned to a man’s lapel and even painted on a rock.  No doubt, early Flag Day supporters would never have imagined the flag on the surface of the moon, or held aloft by six proud men, 5 Marines and a Navy corpsman, on the Pacific Island of Iwo Jima during a world war, or raised by three New York City firefighters amid the rubble of a place of unspeakable tragedy know as Ground Zero.

Such images remind me of the song “Ragged old Flag” by the late country-music legend Johnny Cash.  A visitor to a small town notices the disheveled courthouse flag, and he is told that the wear and tear has come from a lifetime of experience – from the hole id got when George Washington crossing the Delaware River to the beating taken through several wars.  Yet it still flies, and folks remain proud and thankful for all it represents.

When I look at the flag, I see threads --- freedom, tragedy, joy, triumph, sorrow, independence, faith--- an intricate history woven together over the course of years since Old Glory’s birth.  Today, as that flag flies outside my own front door.  I pray that God will bless our Nation with strength and endurance.

Lord, on this Flag Day, wherever in the world our flag is flying, please bless that place----Gina Bridgman

PS Gramps and I were blessed to be one who sewed stitches as part of repairing this flag from Ground Zero.