Today I presided over another military funeral honors. It is one of my favorite duties—serving in ministry to honor our veterans.

We soldiers were talking before the service. The family of the deceased veteran was staging at the entrance to the military cemetery. The NCOs who fold the American flag are among the finest soldiers I’ve ever known in all my years of service. They were flawless in their duties.

Finally we got the call that the funeral entourage was en route. We took our positions and I performed my lane as the chaplain. Once complete, I put my Bible down and instructed the lead NCO, “Proceed with honors.”

The firing party fired three rounds. The pops echoed through the hills. Then the bugler played taps. As we soldiers saluted, the family members sobbed. I could see the son of the deceased veteran, the man to whom I’d present the flag, shake with tears for his dad.

The NCOs unfurled the colors, folded them, presented them to me, and then I presented the colors to the veteran’s son and saluted. And we soldiers moved out, departing from the family as they stayed to weep together.

What’s my point? Just to recount a protocol I follow each week? No. It is this: we all have a specific number of days in this world. Then comes eternity in one of two places—in grace or in judgment. Christ came for sinners. Let us look to him in repentance and faith.