Weekly Devotional

May 25, 2025

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Hey, Finishing Well Family…

Writing to you from Romania this week…

Headed over to get our daughter and her son, Izaiah & bring them back for a few weeks to be with us. A quick turnaround, but it'll be great to all be together for part of the summer.

It's been a hard week.

Our good friend, Phil Miller got his heavenly promotion last Monday night.

I just want to thank you so much for praying, since he's been such a dear friend and a part of our finishing well ministry since we began.

Please keep his wife, Marcia, son Wade, and daughter, Emily and her family in your prayers as they grieve and celebrate his great life and faith.

For those interested in coming to encourage his family, there's a visitation in the afternoon & evening at Northside this next Tuesday the 27th, and the memorial service will also be there on Wednesday at 2 PM.

I'll be writing a little more as a tribute to Phil soon. It will most likely appear as a "midweek special edition" rather than replacing our weekly devotional. He's been such an encouraging spiritual brother since I met him working church camp in 1989. He's truly one of those that we will never know "this side of Heaven" how many people he prompted to follow the Lord wholeheartedly! I sure appreciate your prayers for his family.

And I sure appreciate our devotional writer this week, Scott Ham, who is tackling the memorial day weekend edition!

My early memories of Scott, when our family moved here to serve at Northside in 1999, was him coming in on a unicycle, which was one of the ways he loved to encourage kids, even on some of his military tours of duty on the other side of the world .

Scott and his wife, Heidi, and their family have been faithful folks to the Lord for a long long time. And because of his great military perspective and awareness, I thought it would be fitting to ask him to share how God honors the idea of this holiday we call, "Memorial Day", which is so much more than simply opening the pool, grilling some burgers, and catching the Indy 500 with all due to those things.

I appreciate so much his sharing with all of us this week! So here's his picture, bio & devotional for us. So God bless you, Scott.

And we all join in saying "thank you for your service, brother", and the many like you who have put yourselves in harm's way protecting this nation that we live in!

Scott Ham is a husband to Heidi Ham, Dad to Harvest & Hickory Ham and a follower of Jesus Christ. He works as Manager Compliance for Indiana American Water Company since January 2025 and formerly Manager of Silver Creek Water Corporation where he worked for 36 years. Scott is a Veteran with 27 years in the US ARMY & National Guard and retired as Command Sergeant Major with deployments to Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. He has served the State of Indiana as Chair of the State Soil & Water Conservation Board, is a Distribution and Treatment Certified Water Operator since 1988, and active in many water organizations. Scott’s passion is fishing, mission outreach and serving through the Church. He also works with veteran and first responder suicide prevention and awareness projects. His hope is through using people’s experiences, change is initiated where needed, and support those already doing outstanding work and serving well.

Memorial Day Devotional 2025

Let’s take it to the Lord in prayer,

Dear Heavenly Father, please let these words and thoughts not be mine, but from You.

Lord, I ask that you let those who read or hear this devotional, allow it to resonate and help build upon their faith, wisdom and knowledge. Let us be a vessel for You, through the next generation. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

As a retired Veteran, I would like to share a few key points according to Ham.

First, Memorial Day is a United States of America holiday that we celebrate on the last Monday in May.  This is a day that we Honor and remember our fallen comrades. Growing up, the whole family and everyone in town would go to ceremonies and visit cemeteries to lay wreaths at monuments and gravestones. Memorial Day was a time of prayer for peace and comfort. Yes, it has been commercialized by businesses and there are a lot of sales and BBQs. But the core intent is a National Day of Remembrance and to Honor those who have died serving in the US military.

Veterans Day is a different holiday that is the 11th day, in the 11th month when we celebrate the living armed forces service members. Sometimes on Veterans Day, people put emphasis on a portion of the ceremony where they lay wreaths and memorialize our veterans who have passed away, and that is always a good thing to do, but there is a different intent, to celebrate the “living” service members.

This Memorial Day I challenge you to consider what Remembrance means to you. Jesus asked us when we take communion, to do this in Remembrance of Him.

Second, People have asked many times how I could be in the military and go to war and still be a Christian. It’s been thrown in our faces, and I’ve seen protests about war and seen signs “that thou shall not kill”. This is very tough, being a person of Faith. Having been deployed to Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, I have lost comrades during war. I have been through many Bible studies, and debated the different ethical dilemmas that you deal with when you are in the military. I have been part of a command team that had to deal with conscientious objectors. There are many blocks of instruction in the military, where my commanders and instructors have shown references of scripture, battle tactics dating back to biblical times, and teach on strategic events and conflicts, terrain and techniques that are shared through scripture and history, that are still practiced today.

I’m also reminded of the time when my son, Hickory S. Ham was young and just coming home from Northside KidStuff at the time and walked in to see my “Battle Rattle” equipment laid out on the floor for pre-combat inspection (PCI) and inventory before a deployment. He did Not miss a beat as he walked in looked down and said, “Dad, that looks like the Armor of God, I just learned about in Ephesians 6:10-17. The belt of truth (tactical belt), breastplate of righteousness (body armor), feet fitted for readiness from peace (combat boots), shield of faith (riot gear), helmet of salvation (Kevlar) and sword of the Spirit (bayonet & Bible=Word of God).” This was an awesome moment of faith between a father and son.

Many of my deployments, were filled with fascinating moments, like when the Chaplain would hold Sunday service, or Bible study, in areas that are written about. We have walked where Abraham walked, we have lead Missions through the Land of Ur, I’ve read my Bible while sitting in an armored vehicle looking at Babylon, and looking at biblical reference maps next, to present day combat patrol maps. We have flown in a Marine helicopter over areas like “The Land Between Two Rivers” of Iraq while our Chaplain talked through headsets and pointed out the Tigris and Euphrates, believed to be the region of Mesopotamia and The Garden of Eden. It was 125 degrees and hot, but we were all getting goosebumps and “chills” just listening and seeing what was being read to us from our Bibles. We all knew the Holy Spirit was leading this tour.  We were briefed that in some of our combat zones, we could not profess our Christianity to the locals for fear of being stoned to death.

We were blessed to meet with village elders and religious teachers that were curious about our faith and belief system. If they brought it up first, we could break bread together and talk about Jesus. They would take time to go pray the way they did, and we would as well. When we came back together, we realized that we were praying for the same exact things, giving thanks for being there, safety for us and our families, and future peace.

I could share wonderful pictures and conversations that helped my warriors try to find peace as Christ followers and believers. During times of war, I leaned heavily on Joshua 1:9, as commanded to be strong and courageous, and not be terrified or discouraged, because the Lord our God is with us wherever we go, whether we are in a combat zone or a peaceful area in Indiana, or any state or place in the world. We will always be strong and Remember those that we served with.

Memorial Day, once a year, a dedicated time to Honor and remember our loved ones that raised their hand and offered their life for our Nation. Some who have passed away recently have moved from Veterans Day to Memorial Day.

I think of Jesus, who stretched out his arms, and offered His life for our sins and eternity to then pay the ultimate sacrifice.

We were given instructions, to have communion, and when we do it, Remember him. Typically, we do that once a week during church service. This seems like a little bit different of a perspective between remembrance of our loved ones, and remembering the one who loved us most, Jesus.

During this Memorial Day I ask that you dedicate yourself to the thoughts of those family and friends who have served as well and have passed on. When you pray for and remember loved ones, may you find peace and comfort, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank You,

Scott Ham