At this time of year, it's pretty hard not to think about war and peace and freedom. Someone has said, "Peace is that brief, glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading."
Only 8 percent of the time since the beginnings of recorded history has the world been entirely at peace, according to statistics. In 3521 years, only 286 have been warless. Eight thousand treaties have been broken in this time.
"From the 1500 B.C. to A.D. 1860 more than 8,000 treaties of peace, meant to remain in force forever, were concluded. The average time they remained in force was two years."
No wonder, the motto of the Apollo 11 flight was "We come in peace for all mankind." This motto was on the plaque which was deposited on the face of the moon. The landing was on the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong and Aldrin found a tranquil and peaceful scene on the moon. There never had been any humans there to disturb the peace.
Someone has said, "The Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, and since then for every year of war, there have been two minutes of peace."
Here in Canada we live in a relatively peaceful part of the world, and we owe such a debt of thanks to those who fought so hard to give us the freedom we do have. May we never lose our appreciation for those wonderful folks.
It seems very obvious, though, that people can't give us true and lasting peace. General Douglas MacArthur said, "Men, since the beginning of time have sought peace...military alliances, balances of power, leagues of nations, all in turn failed, leaving the path to be by way of the crucible of war. The utter destructiveness of war no blots out this alternative."
We here at North Shuswap Christian Fellowship believe that true peace has been provided, and can be experienced. We would love to explain that to you.
Sincerely
Pastor John Giesbrecht
