While on my second week of study leave this year, I was sitting in a coffee shop on 2nd Avenue, the main north-south thoroughfare in Gallup. I noticed several students from a local high school walking around with band instruments and others with American flags and realized they must be getting ready for a parade.

In actuality, they were getting ready for a parade to be preceded by the 2nd Annual Veteran’s Day Celebration. The celebration was held right outside the cafe on the grounds in front of the McKinley County Courthouse. The celebration included an opening prayer–addressed to Almighty and Gracious God and closed in Jesus’ name, the singing of the National Anthem, the Pledge of Allegiance, a speech by a city councilman and the recognition of a World War II Veteran who parachuted onto Corregidor Island in February of 1945.

It was a great small-town demonstration of patriotism and honor.

To top it off, sitting in the crowd was a good friend of mine from High School. He also went to Dordt College with me and we roomed together in Las Cruces during my first year of teaching after college. He is also now in the first year of his third term as District Attorney for McKinley County. After the Ceremony he took me on a tour of his office(s). He’s a strong Christian man in a demanding secular job. His parting words to me were, “Pray for me. Pray hard for me.”