Pebble and I just got finished watching Saving Private Ryan.

It was my first time to see the full thing in near-DVD quality, unedited in length.

Watching that movie makes my problems seem very, very, very small. I have bits and pieces of my life laying around on my desk. Albums I need to review for the newspaper, a dead battery for a guitar amp, worn socks, a pocket Bible, a picture of my family, the chocolate-covered coffee beans I got for Christmas.

I take them all for granted way too much. I was particularly struck by Captain Miller's final words to Private Ryan: "Earn this."

And to know that their sacrifice was for more than one man. The sacrifice of those veterans was for all Americans.

And as much of a hell as it must have been to hold a bridge like that from 4 tanks, or to storm a fortified beach, at least those men knew they had a nation behind them, supporting them. (And I realize Saving Private Ryan is perhaps a dramatization, but the point remains.)

It got me thinking about how good my life really is. I have a personal Savior who went through far more trial and pain than any soldier ever did. Why? Because He had to endure it all *without* the favor of His Father.

Would those soldiers have given their lives if their nation considered them as they did the enemy?

How unthinkable it is that He would die for us anyway.

"Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed."

We can never earn the blood shed for us, but we can live with a growing appreciation, respect, and adoration for the One who shed it.