I
went to the funeral the other day of a lady I knew from First Baptist Church
Galveston and from her connection to one the local funeral homes here. She was the secretary in charge over there,
and she knew pretty much everyone who walked through the door. I didn’t know much about her before the
funeral, though. She lived quite the impressive
life. Not the least of her
accomplishments was the fact that she served in the Marines and later joined
the Navy Reserves.
The
funeral itself was impressive enough, even down to the accordion that was part
of the praise team. Never seen that one
before. Her daughter preached a right
decent sermon before the sermon. We sang
some old hymns and heard eulogizing from friends and family. We were not able to do a graveside service
because of the massive amounts of rain we have been receiving in the area.
But
my favorite part of the service by far involved the military honor guard. It was a mixed team with two guys from the
Marines and two from the Navy in full dress uniforms. One of each took an end in the folding of the
flag at the end of the ceremony, and the respective commanders each made his
salute before presenting it to the family.
By far the most impressive pointy in the whole affair, though, was the
playing of Taps. A bugler from the Navy
and one from the Marine Corps joined together to play the most eerily beautiful
rendition I have ever heard. They
created an echo effect, answering each other like I would have expected only
from a team who had been playing together for years. The fact that it was indoors made it even
more effective as the sound careened off the walls and into our listening
ears. It certainly made people stand
just a little taller and inspired just a little more respect than usual.
Mark
8:29 says, “’But what about you?’ he
asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’
Peter answered, ‘You
are the Christ.’”
Father,
thank you for the experience of hearing that tribute. It always helps to put appreciation in its
proper place. Amen.
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