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Monday, December 16, 2019
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Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico.
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None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem.
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Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women,
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so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he came by.
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A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.
-- Acts 5:12-16
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In October of 2008, I had the distinct honor of serving as the official Military Escort Officer for the remains of a young U.S. Naval Aviator who was being transported to interment at Arlington National Cemetery. While flying a combat attack mission in August 1967, the A-4E Skyhawk aircraft flown by US Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade Ralph C. Bisz was shot down over North Vietnam, and he was declared Missing In Action (MIA). Forty years later, his recovered remains were officially identified using forensic DNA science, and the Bisz family asked me to escort "Skip" from Hawaii to Washington, D.C. As part of a time-honored tradition, a Military Escort Officer in full dress uniform accompanies the remains of a fallen service member, and oversees all details regarding the transport en route to the interment site.
That fall day, our long flight from Honolulu flew non-stop to Chicago O'Hare airport, arriving in the pre-dawn hours. As a sign of honor and respect, the transfer case of Skip was to be removed from the aircraft cargo hold first, so I deplaned before all passengers to oversee this action. As I exited the aircraft, I was acutely aware that for the first time since he left for Vietnam in June 1968, Skip was finally back on American soil. Upon finding a ground crew on the tarmac, I explained who I was, and my significant mission of escorting Skip to Arlington. To my amazement, this motley ground crew from all walks of life sprang to life with total professionalism. Preparing the casket to be removed from the cargo hold, one man asked me if I preferred an American flag to be placed on the transfer case for the removal, and I gratefully accepted. Within minutes, a flag was produced and secured on the case. With this final act done, Skip was carefully removed from the cargo hold, and placed on the conveyor belt to be received by the waiting ground crew.
It was at this time that a surreal and divine moment occurred. As I stood in the cold Chicago air in my Army dress uniform, I presented my finest salute for Skip, as did every ground crewman standing alongside me. After 41 years of being lost, separated from his family, and far away from his homeland, Skip Bisz was finally home. And God was with us in that singular and special moment, as we all received one of America's lost sons with the greatest sense of honor and respect.
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Prayer:
Dearest Lord, we praise you for every homecoming this Christmas season. Turn our hearts to you as we recognize that you sent your Son to someday bring us home to you. Amen.
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