MEMORIAL DAY PARADE

     Let me begin this blog by first saying that it is not my intent to complain is any way whatsoever about my previous church employer. I am only sharing with you what Memorial Day meant to me from birth to 2013 and what it means to me now. I will be sharing about my experience building a parade float as well as challenges I had with that along the way. Enjoy this as you read it and thank you all for your positive feedback!

     From the days I was a kid until maybe 1990, Memorial Day meant nothing for me. It was a day off from school always on a Monday and we had a 3 day weekend. I was in a few parades when I was young once as a cub scout, one time with my Junior High school stage band and twice with the Smithtown High School West Marching band. I played the alto saxophone. However, when I accepted the position as the children's pastor at Smithtown Gospel, I was "encouraged" to promote our children's ministry by having a float in the parade. It all began in 1991 and in all honesty, that was my easiest year. Someone told me about a friend who had a boat that we could borrow. He even offered to pull this boat with his pickup truck. I borrowed some animal costumes and bible outfits from the Sunday School department and presto! We had Noah's Ark! My first thought after that parade was "Wow! This will be easy." Boy was I wrong. What happened in the next 5 years or so was a challenge! All I can say was it was a learning experience! My challenges were getting a trailer, getting people to volunteer to help paint and build the float, making sure we had a generator and a sound system that worked and finding the time to make this happen. Let's just say from 1992 - 2013 my month of May was absolutely crazy. I will say that it was fun being creative and developing these floats. In the beginning we used air lyte panels, thick cardboard and we built our floats to promote our summer King's Kids Club. Later on we used plywood. We built Bible time machines, a Train, a Western Town, a lifeguard tower and a VeggieTales theme just to name a few. By the late 1990's, I will admit we had a well running oiled machine. We had the Royal Rangers and Missionettes march behind the float along with the Smithtown Christian School Cheerleaders. Our Kids in Missions students would hand out pencils to kids along the parade route to promote our summer ministries. To be completely honest, what did bother me was the lack of interest from our leadership of our church. I knew I was doing this for the Lord but there were very few church leaders at the parade to see our hard work. I also had very little time with my family. I was so caught up with getting things ready that I couldn't even enjoy my kids being in the parade. They did help me paint and they did work the puppets inside the float while music was playing, but I couldn't enjoy it. I even remember one of our youth pastors riding his bike to the parade with all his kids. I was longing to enjoy that and was frustrated that the responsibility of the parade was solely on me. In truth, I was burning out!
     Don't get me wrong! It was great advertising but my Saturday before Memorial Day and the actual Memorial Day was consumed with this parade. I was supposed to have a day off and often worked the entire Memorial Day. The parade was not even one mile long. While walking down Main street in Smithtown during the parade I would look up and see we were almost at Town Hall where the parade ended. It was quick! I will admit my proudest moment was when the float passed by the platform filled with dignitaries and they would announce our church float by saying "Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle Children's Ministries." Then after all of the kids were picked up by their parents at the end of the parade, it was time to take the float apart. Sometimes we only had a handful of people to help as well as making sure the areas we painted were also clean. My Memorial Day was not spent enjoying a barbecue or a party. I was exhausted.
     This parade was not run by our town but by the Knights of Columbus. We were the only float in the entire parade...no joke. As much as this organization wanted us in the parade, there were some who did not want us in the parade. Their main complaint was about our music. "It's too loud!" Ok, I though well so is the Hauppauge High School Marching Band! I also knew it was NOT the "loud music" that bothered them but the message in the music. One of my workers, Eric gave me a great idea. "Why not play Patriotic Music?" We mixed in our Christian Music with "God Bless America", "The Battle Hymn Republic" and "The National Anthem." Each year we were pushed towards the back of the parade. I wrote "Nice encouraging letters to these men and offered to help them organize it. It was a very disorganized parade. They refused any help whatsoever.
     The final straw for me came around 2005 or so. The church decided to move their Missions Convention from March to the middle of May. I always enjoyed creating events for the kids during the Missions Convention but this meant I would have to do two major events in a row. I spoke out my displeasure about this decision but was told "But you are so good with the kids and you do such a great job with the parade." I knew I was burning out and even after crying out for help it went nowhere. 8 years later was when I was asked to resign. Ironically on the night I was being voted out what was I doing? Painting a float for a parade. That year I didn't care if we drove down with 8 sheets of unpainted plywood with some holes for puppets. I will never forget my last parade. I even told a member of the Knights of Columbus it was my last parade. He thanked me for my hard work. That meant a lot to me!
     In 2014 a year after I left SGT I will never forget sitting in the front of a Wal-Mart waiting for my Father in-law who asked me to wait so he could buy flowers to plant. I sat their thinking that it was my first Memorial Day I had free in 24 years. It was weird! I started to think "What is Memorial Day really about? It's not about building a float for a parade that is less than one mile. It's not about painting a float, constructing it and praying we have no rain. It IS about honoring the men and women through the years who have lost their lives serving our country. It could be with the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force or Coast Guard. Forget about athletes, actors or actresses. Our real heroes are the men and women who have faithfully served our country. Today, Memorial Day for me is honoring all those who served our country, fought for our freedom and gave their lives so that we can be free.
     Looking back, I am very proud of what we accomplished through the years at our parade. I am proud of our floats and proud of how we were a "Light in the darkness." I am also proud to be an American and want to one day thank our servicemen and servicewomen for serving our country and giving of their lives!