Known But to God
The faithful dead are honored and remembered, known intimately by God alone.
Shirley Pope Waite tells this moving story: "'You must visit the American cemetery,'our bed and breakfast hosts told us. We hadn't known about this cemetery three miles from Cambridge, site of one of England's most famous universities. "Upon our arrival, we were surprised to see the American and British flags at half mast. Special Memorial Day services were scheduled to honor the war's dead buried there. "Established in 1943 on land donated by the University of Cambridge, it is the only permanent World War II military cemetery in the British Isles. The rolling grounds are framed by trees on two sides, and contain 3,811 headstones in seven curved grave plots. "A large proportion of the servicemen and women buried there were crew members of British-based American aircraft. Others died in the invasion of North Africa and France, at sea, or in training areas within the United Kingdom. "An impressive Wall of the Missing lies alongside a mall with a pool bordered by roses. The wall records names of 5,125 missing in action, lost, or buried at sea. Four huge statues represent a soldier, sailor, airman, and coast guardsman in uniform. A mosaic in the chapel of the memorial building stretches across the ceiling above the altar. It depicts the archangel trumpeting the resurrection and the last judgment. "As we walked reverently around the beautiful grounds, we paused at the foot of a grave. It was one of 24 decorated with red and white carnations tied with a blue ribbon, and flanked by a tiny American and British flag. The words etched in the headstone read: "here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God." "Tears came to my eyes as we stood in an attitude of worship. Unknown but to God, these service people were once known intimately by parents, siblings, friends, perhaps a spouse and children. Young men and women who fought for freedom and the dignity of humankind! Yet in death-known only to God! "Relatives and friends may forsake us. We may feel alone in a world that offers many only poverty, cruelty, and apathy; but God knows each of us intimately. He is a husband to the widow: "for your Maker is your husband; the Lord of hosts is His name" (Isaiah 54:5). He is a father to the orphan: "Father of the fatherless ...is God in His holy habitation" (Psalms 68:5). He is Father to us all! "Unknown except to God! Isn't that the most important relationship of any? Thank God, we are known to Him not just in life, not just in death, but for eternity!" The Shadow of Death The first wife of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, a well known minister in Philadelphia, died from cancer while still in her thirties. All three of his children were under 12. Dr. Barnhouse had such victory that he decided to preach the funeral sermon himself. En route to the funeral they were overtaken by a large truck which, as it passed them, cast a large shadow over their car. He asked one of his children, "Would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow?" "By the shadow, of course!" replied the 12-year-old daughter. "A shadow can't hurt you." With that answer Dr. Barnhouse said to his three motherless children, "Your mother has been overrun not by death, but by the shadow of death." At the funeral he spoke on Psalm 23, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me."