On Wings Of Eagles

free counters

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Mission Accomplished


John 14:1-3 (New International Version)
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.


It’s the story of a friendship forged during one of the worst battles of World War II, and a promise made almost 60 years earlier, a promise that was finally kept.

Harold Huggins, a U.S. veteran of 10 major campaigns in World War II and the last survivor of his battalion, traveled halfway across the United States by train on one last mission in memory of his best buddy.

"I’ve had this on my mind for 57 years, trying to locate his sister and loved ones out there in California ," says Huggins. "Part of him lives in me."

Huggins, from Albany , IL, and Mack McClain from Marysville, CA, were best friends in the army. They wound up together at Anzio Beach , Italy , the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. Mack told Harold that he didn't think he was going to make it out of there alive, so he gave Harold some mementos, a belt, some photos, and said: "’Give this to my sister, tell her that I love her,’ Huggins recalls. ’You can even give her a kiss.’"

Harold promised that if anything happened to Mack he would do what was asked. One day later, Mack was killed in an artillery barrage.

After the war, Harold looked for Mack’s sister but he never found her until Harold’s daughter sent out e-mails to various veterans groups inquiring about Mack’s relatives. Some California veterans found Mack’s sister, Grace, whose last name had changed because she married.

"We have always hoped and prayed that we would meet somebody that would tell us about Mack," says Grace.

On Thursday, August 2, 2001, at the place where his buddy’s name is engraved in marble at the Veterans Memorial in Marysville , CA , Harold Huggins kept that promise he made 57 years earlier. He met Mack’s sister for the very first time, gave her the kiss that Mack asked Harold to deliver, and entrusted to her the mementos from his fallen friend.

For an old soldier who wouldn't give up his search for a buddy’s long lost sister, there was a feeling of mission accomplished.

Today I want to remind you of Friend who died for you. In fact, He voluntarily gave His life so that you and I might live (1 Thessalonians 5:10). "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends” (John 15:13). Jesus Christ demonstrated this great love and died for our sins so that you and I might live with Him forever in heaven.

God’s mission of salvation was accomplished when Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross (Ephesians 1:7).

Dear Lord we thank You for finishing the mission. We thank You for dying on the cross and raising from the dead so that we may have eternal live through You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment