Heading home to California … a friend and I passed through the Dallas–Fort Worth airport. On the way to the connecting gate, we heard loud patriotic music playing and saw a group, mostly women, wearing colorful hats, cheering, and waving American flags. The troops were coming home, and here was their welcoming committee.

Two women encouraged us to grab flags and join in. We were early for our ...

On April 18, 1942, Army Corporal Jacob DeShazer boarded a bomber plane with his pilot, Lieutenant William Farrow, and a co-pilot, navigator, and rear gunner. Their mission was to bomb Tokyo and its surrounding cities. When the mission was accomplished, they were to land on the shores of enemy territory and elude the opposing forces as they awaited further instructions. The bombing was a success, but ...

In 1993, Lt. Col. Gary Morsch joined the Army Reserves as a doctor to care not only for U.S. soldiers, but also for wounded civilians and prisoners of war. In 2005, as a part of the war in Iraq, he was called up to serve as the field doctor for a battalion near the Iranian border. He would take care of soldiers in the medical tent, provide supervision and training to eight combat medics, and visit ...

In 1993, Lt. Col. Gary Morsch joined the Army Reserves as a doctor to care not only for U.S. soldiers, but also for wounded civilians and prisoners of war. In 2005, as a part of the war in Iraq, he was called up to serve as the field doctor for a battalion near the Iranian border. In an article for Today's Christian, he shares a story of something that happened on the last day of his tour of duty: ...

While serving in Iraq, Courtney Birdsey experienced the protective hand of God, forever changing her. She says:

On one of [our] missions, my unit made a return trip to Samarra, north of Baghdad, to gather data. As we were leaving the town, the Humvee I was riding in approached a tank from behind. A soldier riding on the tank gave us an urgent "turn around" signal. We didn't hesitate to follow orders. ...

A marathon, for most runners, seems long. But it is always 26.2 miles. Always. Except for the Lakeshore Marathon held in Chicago on Memorial Day weekend, 2005. That day the 529 runners who finished actually ran 27.2 miles, one mile more than they were supposed to, only nobody told them so at the time. The organizers simply miscalculated where the finish line should be. The whole race was a mess, with ...

The big holidays of the next two months? Well, there's Memorial Day. And, of course, Mother's Day and Father's Day.

But International Tuba Day?!? Yep, May 5 has been designated as a day "to recognize tubists in musical organizations around the world who have to go through the hassle of handling a tuba." (Hey, if they WANT to handle the big brass, they're not getting any sympathy from me.)

Other strange ...

On the Sunday nearest Memorial Day, a wreath was placed at the front of our church. During the announcements the minister made his attempt at recognizing the givers: "This wreath is in memory of Corporal Frederick Scott, who was killed in action, by his brothers and sisters."

When you think of Memorial Day Weekend, you probably think of family gatherings, cookouts, homemade ice cream, and so on.

The good people of Lake City, Colorado, think of those things too. But they take their holiday festivities a step further than most of us by staging ... A COFFIN RACE!

I am not making this up. On Saturday, May 27, they'll do it again, rigging up caskets on wheels and whizzing down ...