It was the fall of 1960. My father had recently died, and we had moved to an old, decrepit apartment building downtown. Our city cousins were coming to visit, and we were unruly in our excitement. With only an hour before the visit, Mom sent us kids off to Remembrance Park to play.

“But don’t go near the bog, or you’ll get stuck in the quicksand!” Mom warned.

Remembrance Park was a marvellous little place, with an arched log bridge at the far end. I loved to cross it on the way to school, stepping on each log and stopping midway to watch the tiny waterfall as the narrow creek tumbled over a ledge of rock.

Two small, dark green cannons from WWII sat on the grass near the bridge. We kids would play on them, some sitting on the barrel while another would turn the crank till the muzzle was pointing up so high that we could practically slide down. It was great fun!

Before the stream was a pond, and before that was the boggy area. All the fun was at the bridge and cannon end of the park. Even the pond was boring. There was zero reason to disobey Mom by going to the boggy area.

I was 7, Jimmy was 5, and Patrick was almost 3. So guess who was in charge? And guess who pushed the boundaries too far and let Jimmy wander into the boggy area? You can guess what happened next.

Jimmy got caught in the quicksand! He couldn’t get out, and I couldn’t pull him out. I think I at least remembered to grab Patrick’s hand and drag him with me when I tore off home to get my mom to come to the rescue.

Jimmy had been wearing brand new rubber boots, but those boots had to stay behind in the quicksand when Mom and Uncle David tugged him out.

I don’t know what upset Mom more – my disobedience, Jimmy stuck in quicksand, or the loss of a pair of brand new boots. But one bitterly disappointed little girl was sent in disgrace to spend the afternoon in solitude in the bedroom – while the rest of the family had fun with the cousins.

I didn’t understand a lot about the war when I was only seven years old, but Remembrance Park was there as a continual reminder of what our fathers and grandfathers had done for us. We played there, but we also had a genuine respect for it and what it stood for.

When my father became so sick with leukemia, he needed a number of blood transfusions. The Red Cross wouldn’t help, for some reason. It was the Poppy Fund who provided what was needed for Daddy to get those transfusions. And all through my growing up years, Mom made very sure we had money to give so we could get a poppy for Remembrance Day.

Our fallen soldiers, and our veterans, paid a huge price for our freedom. Today, we see how easily those freedoms can be taken away from us again.

We could be living in the greatest nation on earth, with the greatest military in the world, but there will always be threats to our freedom here in this life. Nothing is so firmly established that it cannot be destroyed in an instant.

With one exception – Jesus Christ, and His finished work on the cross.

The Lord Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price to redeem His people from the clutches of sin, and breathe His transforming life into us. We were all dead in our trespasses and sins until He came to us. Now, if we are His, God continues to sanctify us and transform us into the image of His Son. We are free from the penalty of sin, and from its bondage. We are free to serve Him, to love Him, and delight in Him. And that is a freedom that can never be taken away from us, no matter what else we may lose in this life.

Let us never forget what our soldiers have done for us. But far more important, let us never forget what our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has done for us, and what that means, now and forever.

Let us say with the psalmist in Psalm 77:

“¹⁰ And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. ¹¹ I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. ¹² I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. ¹³ Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? ¹⁴ Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.”