All great things are simple...expressed in a single word...

It is still May 30th in the US, so I'm not too late on this post, technically speaking. I usually couple a Memorial Day post with a remembrance of my father, Thomas Samuel Clark, whose birthday is May 30th.
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This photo is of my dad and his plane mates during the Korean War (Dad is standing third from the right). It hangs in their home as a reminder to us all.
His love and dedication to his family has been passed on as a legacy to myself, my brother and my sister as they/we love and are dedicated to our families as well. My mom carries on that same kind of love for all of us as well and I know we are all indebted to her example as well as our dad’s.

Though dad passed on 7 years ago, I find myself still inspired by his examples as I remember them.  In particular, I remember dad's joy and sense of honor to have served in the United States Air Force.

In his last years, before his passing, he expressed to me every time we were together a small reminiscence about his years as a member of a plane crew during the Korean War years.

In addition, I am slowly working through a book given to me by a good friend and mentor, which is a biography of Winston Churchill.  It is  a fascinating study of a complicated man, who strove to make life more simple and safe for others.  He most assuredly had his sinful faults, but also some very inspirational viewpoints and thoughts. 

He had much to say too about honor and so I quote him here (see below as well) in honor of my father, a veteran of the Korean War, and the many who are veterans and serving even now.   "All the great things are simple and many can be expressed in a single word:  freedom, justice, honor duty, mercy, hope." (Winston Churchill)

​I take this moment on behalf of my father to express my gratitude to all who serve, who have served and who have paid the ultimate price for freedom. I praise God for those whose families have paid that price as well. May the Lord of all creation, whose Son paid the ultimate price on the cross, bless and keep you in His care and peace.

There’s nothing easy about it, but freedom is worth the sacrifice. God the Father gave His Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice to pay the penalty of mankind’s sin. Thus, by recognizing our need for a Savior and by repentance, putting our trust and faith in Christ as our substitute, and believing that His sacrifice has satisfied God’s wrath and punishment of sin, then we are saved, rescued and freed from the power and hold of sin. May the Lord richly bless you!