Before me lies poppies in a field with many other wild flowers. This is Essex farm in Belgium were Major John McCrae wrote “in Flanders fields”.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

I was surprised to hear that poppies are considered weeds. When a land is torn apart from bombs and war, then these are the first flowers to appear. From a ruined field comes beauty, from death comes life.

A somber, but levelling day spending time in the cemeteries near Ypres in Belgium. Many of the dead in World War One were never identified and so lie in graves marked with; Known unto God

Revelation 3:5

He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

The cemeteries reminded me of this phrase because all these soldiers have their names written on the wall that reminded me of an open book with row upon row of names on. White tomb stones line row with row to commemorate thousands of deaths.

This guarantee is simply stated, if you endure for Christ and don’t turn away from what God has taught and left us in the Bible, and guided by the living Holy Spirit then your name will never be blotted out. It will be preserved in the book of life. It is heartening that we can be lost and die anywhere but we will never be forgotten, just like these soldiers will never be forgotten as each night a service is held and soldiers for the war are remembered.

You are called to be a soldier for Christ – not to live in hate and persecute others, but to fight the spiritual fight. Christ died knowing that he would not be forgotten by his Father in heaven, he had that assurance. But he gained victory over death as well to give us all a future beyond this life if we so grasp it.

Dear Lord, your will always wins. I can not fight against your will, and if I do I might as well lie unremembered in a field. But Lord do not abandon your people, do not abandon anyone who opens the door and calls on your name. 

Through Jesus Christ

Amen