I am Free?

A few months ago I traveled to Washington D.C. with a group of students from my school. The trip was called the "Innovative Leadership Experience." A few days into our trip we got bored and decided to play a game. It was called Bigger or Better. We basically took a penny and traded up to see how much we could get with the penny that we started with. We started with a Penny, we traded that for a pen, them we traded that for a flashlight and so on. By the end of the game, we ended up with a bunch of free stuff including a $100 MP3 player. It was amazing! I have to say up front here that one of my favorite words in the English language is the word "free." However my thinking has taken a different direction as of late.
Thinking back to my time in Washington D.C. I can remember the first night of our trip. We decided to go take in the sights of the Lincoln Memorial as well as the other Memorials in the area. After we finished at the Lincoln Memorial, we headed towards the War Memorials. The last time I had seen any of these memorials was in fifth grade, and I can remember laughing it up with some of my friends as we watched a homeless man getting arrested because he would not get out of one of the fountains. This experience was very different than the one in fifth grade. Perhaps it was because I was older and more mature, or it could have even been because of the deep bass voice of one of my close friends giving me in depth descriptions and background information about each and every landmark we came in contact with that night. I was filled with reverence and awe, as though I was in the presence of men who have done so much more for myself and my country than I could ever know or fully appreciate. These were men and women that found a cause that was not only worth living for, but for many of them, it was even worth them giving their lives for. I stood there in that park in the company of names that new more about what "free" means than I could ever learn playing a game with a penny in a mall.
I could sum my entire experience in that park that night with one simple phrase. As we were winding down our time in the park we walked past the Korean War Memorial and there I saw a fountain with an inscription in it. And just as my eyes began to see each words, my friend with the deep bass voice read the words aloud right behind me: "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE." He said, "What a profound thought." I agreed with him and after a few more minutes of silence between us, we headed back to the hotel.
Last week I was on the road with the team and I received a text message from a friend. They asked me if I could pray for them. Their cousin was serving our country in Iraq and the news just reported that He had died in Iraq. I was instantly brought back to my time in D.C. to that inscription on the wall of that fountain. "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE." My friend's cousin left behind three children all under the age of four. This is one of those everyday reminders to me that the freedom that you and I get to have each and every day of our lives cost something. This makes me want to live a different kind of life. One that cherishes each breath, a kind of life that is grateful for even the smallest freedoms, because more than likely those freedoms were secured at a high price.
This kind of thinking brings me right to the cross. To Jesus, one who came to a people that were in the worst kind of bondage, the kind that would lead straight to death. He knew what it would cost to secure freedom and he lived and even gave his life for that freedom. This is why we must live a different kind of live.