Blessed Memories

READ: DEUTERONOMY 4:9; PSALM 78:1-16 I was in middle school when I first took an interest in the Civil War, particularly the role that my third great grandfather, Michael Sallander, played in it. He was only a teen and a recent immigrant when war broke out, yet he still enlisted in his home state of Wisconsin, lying about his age to do so. All four of his brothers enlisted as well. One died—the younger brother who enlisted with him and fought beside him. Two or three of the Sallander brothers were prisoners of war, including my grandfather, and another one was so debilitated by disease that he never returned to the farm. Despite the horrors of war and its long-lasting impact on his family, Michael served alongside a number of Methodist ministers who profoundly impacted his life—to such an extent that he was ever after described as a happy man of faith in my great-grandmother’s stories. Every Memorial Day, a holiday initially created to remember Civil War veterans, I think ...