File: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db940530.TXT
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OUR DAILY BREAD                         Monday, May 30, 1994
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READ:  Esther 4:10-17

                       "THE PRINCE OF FREEDOM"

                      I will go to the king, . . .
                    and if I perish, I  perish.

                         - Esther 4:16

When I talked to young men shortly before D-day during World
War  II,  I  observed  that  they were scared.  None of them
wanted to die.  However, the vast majority  expressed  their
conviction  that  the cause for which they were fighting was
right and worthy of the risk.

Queen Esther had similar feelings.  She didn't want to  die.
She  called  for  a  3-day  fast to acknowledge her need for
God's special help.  According to  Persian  custom,  if  she
went  uninvited  to the king and he was displeased, he could
order her execution even though she was his wife.  Yet Ether
loved her people enough to take that risk.

Today in the United States, we honor the men and  women  who
died  in  the  service of their country.  Their sense of pa-
triotism compelled them to put  their  lives  on  the  line.
Whether  they  had  volunteered  or  had  been drafted, they
joined in the defense of  their  homeland.   Sometimes  they
traveled  to far away places to support other countries in a
fight for freedom.  They risked their all and died.

Just as we are indebted to those who died  to  make  freedom
possible,  so  we ought to thank God for His Son who died to
set us free from the bondage of sin.  On this  day  we  have
much for be thankful for.

Author:  Herbert Vander Lugt

        Lord, keep us mindful of the cost,
        The price of  liberty  -
        Brave men and women gave their lives
        To conquer tyranny.

                        - Dennis J. De Haan


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
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The price of  our freedom from sin
   was paid in blood.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalms 148-150

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