Today’s guest post is by Pastor Kip McCormick. Kip is the campus pastor for Cornwall Church Skagit Valley in Mt Vernon, Washington—a satellite campus of Cornwall Church in Bellingham, Washington. Kip earned his Master of Divinity degree while running a youth ministry in Seoul, South Korea. Upon retiring from 28 years of service as an active duty colonel in the Army in 2009, Kip continued pastoring youth and men in the United States. He has a passion for God’s Word and recently completed his PhD in biblical studies. Kip combines his experience as a senior officer in the military, former U.S. Military Academy (West Point) instructor, and intelligence professional with his desire to equip and encourage others in their walk with Christ.
My wife, Linda, was asleep, and I was watching the National Memorial Day concert on the Mall in Washington D.C.
I sat in my living room, lights out, weeping. I didn’t get it. Why was it bothering me so much?
I’d spent a lot of time on the Mall when I was stationed at the Pentagon, then later when I went through attaché training at the Defense Intelligence Agency. I was very familiar with that place. I had seen the monuments, and I had strong memories of the places they represented.
As they played the songs and cut to clips from Afghanistan and Iraq and then back to the faces of wounded warriors, their families, and their kids, I wept.