Just before the end of World War II, in Europe, a very important thing happened. It took place in Holland. The Germans, the Nazis, had spent the last four years occupying the region and the last two years basically punishing the country for helping the Allies during the failed Allied operation named Market Garden. They flooded fields, cut off supply lines, and stole all the food they could find for their own armies and to punish the people. Dutch folks were desperate, forced to eat "roof rabbits" their nickname for cats and rats. They also ate tulip bulbs, anything they could find. In mid-April 1945, the Germans were all but defeated, but famine and the potential for a large-scale human disaster were in the land.

Queen Wilhelmina of Holland appealed directly to Winston Churchill and the President of the United States for help. Both countries responded, each with their own military operation. These operations had names. The British one in cooperation with Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Poland was called Operation Manna. The American Army Air Corps action was Operation Chowhound. Most people have never heard of these military operations. Both had the same purpose, to keep 2.5 million people from starving to death. Together from April 29, 1945, until May 8th, 1945, they flew into Holland in B-17s, B-25s, Lancaster, and Mosquito bombers and dropped from 300 feet more than 14,000 tons of food and supplies over white crosses that marked the drop zones. These crosses were made from bed sheets. The area around the drop was surrounded by waving, crying, sign-carrying Dutch folks. These signs included large ones that read:

"God Bless America!"

In order to help the starving people of Holland, a very uneasy truce was negotiated with the Germans. They would not cooperate until General Eisenhower told them that if they did not let us respond to the needs of the Dutch people, Germany would be bombed out of existence. This was no idle threat, it had teeth and the German government knew it. Hitler was dead, and not part of the decision-making process, so the German army agreed. Even so, shots were fired at some of the Allied planes and two went down, with few survivors. Regardless of the danger, the flights went on day after day.

This is the kind of country we are, this is our history and we should be proud and thankful for this heritage. It is almost Biblical in its scope, winning wars, and helping folks including the starving East Germans themselves not too many months later with the Berlin Airlift.

In the Psalms, there is one, in particular, that is a lament, a cry out to God for help. The Babylonians had invaded and sacked Jerusalem. They carried off most of its inhabitants as slaves, back to Babylon.

The person who wrote the Psalm was in great distress. Almost all were lost, with no home, no food, friends, and family dead or gone. But he knew that God was still there, that God endured forever and would provide for his needs, and that regardless of what his circumstances looked like God had not abandoned him, and never would.

We too will face difficult things in life, as we are right now, as a nation, and as individuals. But remember we are not alone. We are loved by a God whose son poured out his blood for us. Knowing that he would lose everything, his friends, and his life, he still gave everything for us. Like the Dutch folks, we should be grateful, for we have been saved, and when troubles come he will hear our plea.

Psalm 102: 1-17

A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.

1 Hear my prayer, Lord;

let my cry for help come to you.

2 Do not hide your face from me

when I am in distress.

Turn your ear to me;

when I call, answer me quickly.

3 For my days vanish like smoke;

my bones burn like glowing embers.

4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass;

I forget to eat my food.

5 In my distress I groan aloud

and am reduced to skin and bones.

6 I am like a desert owl,

like an owl among the ruins.

7 I lie awake; I have become

like a bird alone on a roof.

8 All day long my enemies taunt me;

those who rail against me use my name as a curse.

9 For I eat ashes as my food

and mingle my drink with tears

10 because of your great wrath,

for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.

11 My days are like the evening shadow;

I wither away like grass.

12 But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever;

your renown endures through all generations.

13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion,

for it is time to show favor to her;

the appointed time has come.

14 For her stones are dear to your servants;

her very dust moves them to pity.

15 The nations will fear the name of the Lord,

all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.

16 For the Lord will rebuild Zion

and appear in his glory.

17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;

he will not despise their plea.