Memorial for the Fallen

There are a lot of people that seem to hate our military here in the United States.
I am not one of these people.
I am someone that loves our military and those that have paid for freedom and liberty with their lives.
I salute those that have given their lives.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
You guys are some of the strongest people on earth; mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Those people that have had limbs blasted off or have been wounded in past wars, I salute you.
To the families of those fallen soldiers that carry on the legacy of those fine men and women, I salute you.
To those men and women that have gone through chaos and utter pain after watching their friends and buddies blown apart in the field of battle and then have held their broken bodies, I salute you.
Many people don't see those deeds of soldiers that have died in the wilderness of Vietnam or in the deserts of Afghanistan or Iraq, I salute you.
To those people that have died in the World Trade Centers, those people in the Pentagon, those people in Boston that were innocently slaughtered, I SALUTE YOU!
Thank you for giving your lives for the people of this great land.
To the paralytic, the broken, the lives lost, the soldiers that remain scarred from war, the people that have suffered for the cause of the liberty and freedom for the United States, I salute you!
May God bless everyone that have given their bodies and lives for us and may God bless America!

~JDS

Check out the video below for a tribute to those fallen!
Click here!

"...to save a wretch like me"

I want to share my testimony as a Christian for you guys today. It is something that I am proud to talk about because it shows the grace, love, mercy, and greatness of God in and through my life. Anyways, on to the testimony.

I was a young man of 7 years old. I was a typical 7 year old with all my questions and curiosities. I had gone to a public school and saw how kids treated one another, which turns out to be not very good. I had grown up in a Christian home since I was 4 years old, so I knew the implications that followed being a Christian. I just didn't know what it was to be a Christian. I stood up for myself in school before becoming a Christian. We went to Church every week, and every week I wanted to be baptized. My pastor and parents didn't think I was ready. We waited for another couple of weeks until I went up to the front and asked Jesus to be my Savior. It was at that point that I felt the love of Jesus in my heart and I wanted to do the right thing in my life. My pastor wanted to meet with my parents and I to talk about what it meant to be a Christian and to get baptized. I was finally baptized. My life as a Christian reflected Christ to the best of my abilities and strength as I had my parents helping me each and every day. I walked through each day of my life following my father and the ministries that God had him in. 

The love of God was new to me at a very young age, but I have no doubt that God saved my life then and there. John 3:16 in the Bible says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This verse and my Christian faith became real to me as I watched the outside world and the unbelievers perish and felt a heart towards seeing them come to Jesus. I have lived as Jesus taught to live. I do still fall into sin and I fall on my face. God still comes and picks me up and dusts me off. The love of my Savior for me is beyond even what I can imagine. When God comes into your heart He makes you into a clean and new creation. You are born again without going into your mother's womb again. You are reborn spiritually and are given the Holy Spirit of God. Today I follow Him wholeheartedly in full surrender to what He has for me. God does not wish that any perish or die without salvation. He loves you and wants you to come to Him! I have Godly, Christian friends that encourage me daily and help me live for God. I play piano in Church services to help others to know the same love that I know. God bless!

~JDS