Freedom and hope, bought with blood

As a combat veteran, I see Memorial Day differently than most. I see faces. I hear last radio calls. I remember the blood spilled on foreign soil, and the brothers and sisters who never came home.

This day is personal. It’s raw at times. It hurts some years.

Memorial Day is a sacred day of remembrance, a day to honor the warriors who gave everything for our freedom.

We remember friends and fierce warriors who stood beside us, laughing, fighting, sweating. We recall those who didn’t make it out of battle, their coffins draped in the red, white, and blue.

I don’t just remember their sacrifice; I carry it every day. Their lives and their legacies are fuel that drives me to keep pressing on.

Over a million Americans swore an oath and later laid down their lives for this nation. And today, the cost continues—invisible wounds, broken families, and a suicide epidemic claiming 22 veterans a day.

Since 1980, less than 10% of military deaths have come from hostile action.

This unsettling fact shows that war doesn’t end when the guns fall silent. It follows us home.

That’s why we must honor the fallen, not just with parades and speeches, but with how we live. With courage. With loyalty. With faith. With intention. With purpose.

Every Memorial Day, I choose to honor my fallen brothers and sisters through a tradition called “The Murph Challenge.” This brutal workout is named after Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael Murphy, who gave his life in Afghanistan. One-mile run. 100 pull-ups. 200 push-ups. 300 squats. Another mile. All with a weighted vest.

It’s grueling. It’s painful. But it’s nothing compared to what they endured.

Every pull-up, every step, reminds me (and those that participate in “The Murph”) that freedom has a cost.

But Memorial Day reminds me of something even greater. Because long before our battles on earth, there was a battle fought for our souls. One life was given — freely, fully — to win a victory that no army could achieve.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, laid down His life for us all. As the Bible says in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."

One drop of blood on the cross changed the fate of the world. The blood of warriors defends a nation. The blood of Christ redeems the world.

War shows us courage. But only God’s grace brings true peace.

In John 8:12, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.”

In the darkness of war, it was His light that showed me the way home. It’s His sacrifice that reminds us that real victory doesn’t come through force of arms—it comes through love, sacrifice, and redemption.

This Memorial Day as we remember our fallen heroes, let us also remember the Savior who gave His life for all mankind to teach us the true meaning of sacrifice.

May we live lives worthy of both sacrifices—carrying forward the freedom they won, and the hope He secured.

Freedom was never free.

Neither was grace.

Both were bought with blood.

We must walk worthy of those sacrifices.