“… Cross again to the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel. Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.” Joshua 4:4-7

Remembering takes commitment… freedom to enter the Promised Land, freedom in Christ’s Cross, and freedom to exercise our faith, all came at a great cost. Freedom’s stones of remembrance are worth honoring. Their cost is worth remembering!

Memorial Day is a national holiday set aside to honor military service members who died fighting in a war. Major General John A. Logan, a Civil War veteran, founded Memorial Day in 1868. Following the Civil War, a small group of women went to a cemetery in Columbus, Mississippi and honored the Soldiers of both the North and the South by putting flowers on their graves.

Memorial Day was initially called Decoration Day because graves were decorated with flowers and flags. In May of 1874, Mrs. Laura D. Richardson of Knoxville, Tennessee saw flags in a store window. She had an idea and subsequently purchased the flags and had the local lumber mill provide the wood for tiny flagpoles. This began the movement to decorate graves with flags.

It was changed to Memorial Day to put the emphasis on the Fallen, not the graves. Initially it was observed on May 30, but in 1971, when it became a national holiday, Congress changed it to the last Monday of May. Sadly, this change put the focus on a ‘3 day weekend’, instead of honoring the Fallen. Poppies, a symbol of death in war, have been worn on Memorial Day since 1915 to remember the Fallen. This movement was initiated by an American teacher named Moina Michael who read the well-known poem by a Canadian military doctor, “In Flander’s Fields.” “Taps” is often played at Memorial Day ceremonies.

To this day, many Americans still do not understand the true meaning of Memorial Day, nor do they take any measures to observe Memorial Day. May the efforts of 2 KM help us to STAND, ACKNOWLEDGE, REMEMBER.