Guam celebrates a holiday on July 21st called liberation day. It celebrates the day America “liberated” them from Japanese occupation in 1944. The Japanese soldiers on the island treated the guam people worse than I imagined. They regularly massacred workers, raped, and beat the people. The conditions grew worse as it became clear the Americans were going to take control of the island causing the Japanese soldiers to gather the largest, brightest, most influential people from town to town killing them in caves and ditches. I’ve personally gotten opportunities to go to these massacre sights and hear the old men tell the stories of their fathers and brothers killed by scared, ashamed, small (in spirit not stature) men.
On the night before the parade people line the streets camping with their families holding the best spots for the parade the next day. The morning of the parade was electric to say the least. The smell of wood, charcoal, and meat on the grill fills the entire city and the main road is shut down for the day. The parade is so long it seems that every business and family and vehicle is involved, everyone waves, and everyone shares with each other what the other will accept. Children chase candy in the streets. Old people dance. Tattoos are given on the road. Cotton candy stains kids clothes. Stories are told.
I’ve never had my land taken from me by an oppressor wanting to make bombs. I’ve never had my father taken from my home to be shot in a cave. I’ve never had my wife taken from me and given to “needy” soldiers for sport. But I know what its like to see my way of life change for the better. When the American marines were still small on the horizon, the guam people began to quietly celebrate their coming. A better life was on its way… a new “kingdom” was “at hand” you might say. And in a very powerful way, I’ve experienced this kind of celebration, this liberation. And its not only a liberation of my soul, but of my mouth and my brain and my loves and hopes. I too have been liberated from an old, oppressive way to a new hope… the way of Jesus.
So as I watched my fiancée march at strict attention through crowds of waving children in the 94 degree direct sunlight, I grinned. My heart celebrated my own liberation, and I thanked God that a new kingdom was truly “at hand."
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4 comments:
i agree... and it was also interesting to hear the guide on our hike to the massacre sights talk about the liberation. it must have been bitter sweet for him and his family.
also, i wonder how long it took the people on guam in the 40s to grasp and fully enjoy the liberation. my soul feels similar i think. and in a way i am liberated day by day i suppose... from myself or the american dream or my faults or whatever else may keep me from a new way of life.
thank God for liberating moments in our lives. ones that are happy, sad, beautiful, ugly or amazing...but always life changing!
most of the time here, i'm having to preach the importance of Jesus now. it's good to stop and read this.
good job man.
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