Today I attended the annual memorial service in Los Angeles that honors FBI Special Agents killed in the line of duty. It's a sobering day that reminds us of those agents that gave the ultimate sacrifice in service of their country. Since 1929 there have been a total of 36 service martyrs who were killed in the line of duty as the result of a direct adversarial force or at or by the hand of an adversary.
The ceremony, as always, was a beautiful one and was handled with appropriate dignity, patriotic music, a great speaker, and my favorite... a Marine Corps Color Guard. Taps was played on bagpipes and Marines performed a 21-gun salute. As the shots rang out and the smell of gunpowder drifted past me in the gentle breeze it gave me an instant flashback to my Marine Corps days.
When the official ceremony ended I visited with former colleagues, current employees, and the young Marines. It was a beautiful double dose of nostalgia from my two former careers on a warm sunny southern California day.
John 15:13 (NLT) - "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends."