Who Will Remember You?

The photo of a tall and handsome young man, proudly attired in a World War I army uniform, once hung at my wife Bev's parents' home in Frost, Minnesota. The photo was of her uncle Edwin Benjamin Skogen. A century ago, he was sent to France to fight in the "The Great War." Shortly before all went quiet on the Western Front in that terrible war, the dreams and hopes of Bev's uncle were cut short. He made the ultimate sacrifice. He was killed at age 25 in service to his country.

Why might that be important to you?

I have long held an interest in World War I history. Some seven million civilians and 10 million military personnel died—and generally died badly—in that terrible conflict that lasted four long years until 1918.

World War I represented the first true technology war, where painful chemical warfare and the first widespread use of weapons of mass destruction indiscriminately slaughtered soldiers en masse. Thousands of enlisted men and officers had to pitifully live and fight from muddy trenches crisscrossing battlefields all over Europe.

Bev's uncle Edwin was buried in France, thousands of miles from his Minnesota home. Fast forward to 1985. As part of a trip through eastern France, Bev and I visited some World War I battlefields.

We did not know where Edwin Skogen was buried. As we drove towards Paris, we chanced upon an American military cemetery. We stopped and asked the cemetery caretaker about Edwin. His answer was not hopeful. He told us that this cemetery was one of about 40 American cemeteries in France where he could have been buried.

But thankfully, he did kindly oblige us and looked up the name. We were all astonished. Would you believe that Private Edwin Skogen was buried right there?

We quickly walked the short distance from the administration building to Edwin's grave. He had been laid to rest on a gentle sloping knoll. Mature trees gently shaded the graves of the hundreds of American servicemen killed and buried at this cemetery.

We breathlessly approached Edwin's grave. Alongside him were the markers of his comrades, all killed within days of one another. There was Edwin's marker. Bev and I walked over to the stone and gently stroked the rough stone with our fingers.

This was a sobering moment of remembrance. The caretaker showed how only one other family member had visited Uncle Edwin's grave during the near-century after his death. For the most part, he had quietly been forgotten.

What is poignant about this today? We no longer have the photo of Edwin. It has disappeared. And, what's worse, I cannot now find the slides I took of our visit to the cemetery. All we have are memories.

With that as a backdrop, consider these facts: The United States celebrates Memorial Day this coming Monday on May 28, a day of remembrance for those whose lives were cut short in foreign wars. Many other nations have their own days to honor military dead during the year: Canada observes Remembrance Day on November 11; Anzac Day for Australia and New Zealand on April 25. And in November, the United Kingdom observes Remembrance Sunday. Many Britons wear or display "Remembrance poppies" per a tradition inspired by the Canadian poet John McCrae's "In Flanders Fields."

Why might this be meaningful to you? What is God's perspective?

In today's society, it seems that what was once sacred and important is becoming trivial, meaningless and pointless. Many movies and video games trivialize death as a moment of worthless twisted glory in a pathos of human history and empty experience.

Despite this, most of us still want to remember and memorialize those who precede us. We ourselves want to be remembered. I have officiated at many funerals. There, phrases of "never to be forgotten" are liberally voiced. We name buildings, highways, parks and other monuments of note after people who are important to us.

Despite all of this, the memory is still only for so long. Tragically, people forget one another. History fades and is lost.

With that in mind, who will remember you?

There is good news. God does not forget.

As we read in the Psalms, "The Lord cares deeply when his loved ones die" (Psalm 116:15, New Living Translation, emphasis added throughout). As the Bible shows in many places, God records important details about each of our lives. Some things, like our sins, are completely blotted out and cast from remembrance when we repent and seek forgiveness. Other things are recorded forever in a very important book: the Book of Life.

Want to have your name in that Book? Note this: "Then those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name" (Malachi 3:16, NLT).

We will see that Book reappear—together with an incredible hope for all of humanity—at the very end of the Bible story. At that time, "the books were opened, including the Book of Life" (Revelation 20:12, NLT).

What happens then? For military men and women who died alone or badly in the wreckage of ships, on battlefields, in trenches, in hot jungles, in deep darkness—all-but-forgotten people like Bev's Uncle Edwin, whose last memory may be of pain and anguish—a marvelous miracle occurs. "The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead" (Revelation 20:13, NLT)—a global resurrection of any and all come back to life! And to a life this time of incomprehensible meaning, where Jesus Christ is King of Kings!

Think on this! As Paul instructed Timothy, God "wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4, NLT).

When the critical time comes, who will remember you? God will!

But what if we have "trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?" (Romans 8:35, NLT). Does that mean that God and Jesus have abandoned you?

Here's an unbreakable promise for you, for your family, for your friends, for those important to you: "nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).

And how is that love of God expressed? "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32) and with it, eternal life!

During this coming Memorial Day in the United States, we can all meditate on and be filled with hope about the coming global Memorial Day, when God orders the Book of Life to be opened, for all people to remembered—including Bev's long-dead Uncle Edwin and your relatives who have died—and with it the opening of the gateway to incomprehensible, wondrous eternal life.

On that day, God "will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things will be gone forever" (Revelation 21:4, NLT).

May God speed that great Memorial Day!