{"id":45527,"date":"2008-06-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/fallen-soldier-receives-slow-salute\/"},"modified":"2008-06-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-06-30T00:00:00","slug":"fallen-soldier-receives-slow-salute","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/fallen-soldier-receives-slow-salute\/","title":{"rendered":"Fallen Soldier Receives Slow Salute"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We live in a fast-paced culture, but some things just ought to happen slowly.<\/p>\n\n<p>The book <em>Final Salute<\/em> tells the story of Major Steve Beck, a U.S. Marine whose heart-wrenching task is to inform the nearest of kin when a Marine is killed in Iraq. Beck doesn&#39;t just break the sad news and then leave; for several days he may help the family through the process of the funeral. That includes supervising the Marine honor guard that stands near the fallen soldier&#39;s body.<\/p>\n\n<p>The honor guard learns from Beck how to salute their fallen fellow-Marine as they leave or resume guard with a slow salute that isn&#39;t taught in basic training. The slow salute requires a three second raising of the hand to the head, a three second hold, and then a three second lowering of the hand&mdash;a gesture of respect that takes about nine times longer than normal. Beck explains: &quot;A salute to your fallen comrade should take time.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>Indeed, those who die serving their country are worthy of great honor, worthy of a slow salute, worthy of extra time. To do some things fast, just to get them done so we can move on to the next thing in our lives, sends a subtle message of disrespect.<\/p>\n\n<p>So it is with our worship of God. God deserves a slow salute. The Savior who gave his life for us is worthy of our time.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[430],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3385,3465,3535,3907,4061,4165,4166,4283,4655,4677,4818,4837,4868,5159,5305],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-45527","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-adoration","tax_ctp_tags-awe","tax_ctp_tags-busyness","tax_ctp_tags-exaltation-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-glorifying-god","tax_ctp_tags-honor","tax_ctp_tags-honoring-god","tax_ctp_tags-irreverence","tax_ctp_tags-pleasing-god","tax_ctp_tags-praise","tax_ctp_tags-respect","tax_ctp_tags-reverence","tax_ctp_tags-sacraments","tax_ctp_tags-time","tax_ctp_tags-worship"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fallen Soldier Receives Slow Salute - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/fallen-soldier-receives-slow-salute\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fallen Soldier Receives Slow Salute - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We live in a fast-paced culture, but some things just ought to happen slowly. The book Final Salute tells the story of Major Steve Beck, a U.S. Marine whose heart-wrenching task is to inform the nearest of kin when a Marine is killed in Iraq. 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