Looking Back 80 Years Later!

Surrender ceremony on USS Missouri on September 2, 1945

Eighty-years-ago today
my dad looked back as if to say,
“Do not forget what happened here
that calls to mind world peace!”

Dad’s haunting stare invites our glance
as we recall a grave expanse
of small white crosses where the brave
lie buried six feet down.

Today’s a day to hold our breath
and pray for peace while senseless death’s
a way of life day after day
in Gaza and Ukraine.

May mem’ries made in Tokyo Bay
revisit us this solemn day
as we reflect on what it takes
to practice war no more.

* My father was a nineteen-year-old Marine on the Mighty Mo the day the surrender ending World War 2 was signed. He is seen in the lower right-hand corner of an historic photograph looking back toward the photographer.

Below is a link to a post on Facebook by SQuire Rushnell, the creator of the Godwinks phenomenon:
https://www.facebook.com/Godwinks/posts/pfbid02JvsEyzewPwY2mQokzpEYCdySJRSyx4z6PB8hrGHis72M5iYvmxQMG4wKACZRkttgl


In addition to each week’s post on this website, Greg Asimakoupoulos offers daily video devotionals on his YouTube channel. Here is a sample video. If you are interested in receiving these devotionals Monday through Friday, you can subscribe on Greg’s channel.

Israel’s 9/11

Yes, October 7th
is Israel’s September 11th.
Their Ground Zero
was a ground offensive
by Hamas
that blindsided innocent concert goers
giving a human face
to inhumane terror.

It was a kind of
Woodstock Festival
punctuated by rivers of blood
instead of puddles of mud.

Hostages were kidnapped.
Lives were stolen.
Babies were beheaded.
Evil assaulted the vulnerable.
It was a day the music died.

The Land of Promise
promised revenge.
And rightly so.
Untold wrong
had raped the region.
Retaliation was a given
in light of what was taken.

And Gaza
bore the brunt
of a nation
whose pride
had been bruised
and whose heart
had been broken.

Eye for eye!
Tooth for tooth!
Innocent for innocent!
War for war!
Death for death!

Lord, have mercy!
Lord, bring peace!
Lord, forgive!
Lord, restore!
Lord, bring the hostages home!
Lord, hear our prayer!

**This painting is by Udi Merioz, an Israeli artist I met in Jerusalem five years ago. It pictures the IDF at the Wailing Wall praying for peace.