This week was one I won’t soon forget. I attended the funeral Mass for Joe Folino, the father of a good friend. Joe lived to 103 years old, a full, faithful life, and I first met him 20 years ago when I learned he had fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. As someone who deeply respects our military veterans, especially those of the Greatest Generation, I felt honored just to know him. My own grandfather, Louis Casciani Jr., served in the Pacific Theater with the U.S. Navy during that same war. These men, and countless others like them, stood in the gap when tyranny threatened everything we hold dear.
Joe’s unit, a tank destroyer battalion, was positioned on Elsenborn Ridge in Belgium, tasked with holding the line against the German onslaught. He once shared in an interview how the real enemy wasn’t just the Germans: “The bigger enemy was the cold. It was below zero, and there was no shelter for us. You were not allowed to build a fire because of the artillery.” (source: ‘His stories live on through us now’ as Battle of the Bulge soldier dies) As I sit here in my warm home office, watching yet another blizzard blanket Western Pennsylvania and much of the country, I can’t help but draw the parallel. How do you endure subzero temperatures, no shelter, constant threat of death, all while defending freedom? Joe did. My grandfather did. And because they did, you and I can raise our families in a nation built on principles worth defending.
The Battle of the Bulge erupted on December 16, 1944, just months after the Allies’ triumph at Normandy. Hitler gambled everything on a desperate winter counteroffensive through the Ardennes Forest, hoping to split the Allied lines and force a negotiated peace. For 41 days, until January 25, 1945, American troops held firm against overwhelming odds. Over 700,000 Allied soldiers were involved, facing a German push across a roughly 75-mile front. The cold was brutal, supplies scarce, and the stakes eternal: freedom versus tyranny. (source: Battle of the Bulge, 1944 – 1945 (US Army))
Today, as working parents juggling demanding jobs, kids’ schedules, church commitments, helping neighbors, and carving out precious time in God’s Word, we face our own battles. The headlines scream division, cultural drift, and attacks on the very freedoms those men bled for. Progressive ideologies erode the biblical foundations that shaped America’s founding, truths like the inherent dignity of every person, created equal and endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our Declaration of Independence boldly proclaims these as self-evident, rooted in God’s design. The Constitution safeguards them through limited government, consent of the governed, and protections for speech and religion. Tyranny, absolute power in the hands of a few, cannot coexist with a representative republic where authority flows from the people under God.
Yet here we are, feeling the chill of a culture that increasingly mocks faith, redefines truth, and pressures families to conform rather than stand firm. It’s easy to feel weary. Between early mornings at work, late nights helping with homework, serving in ministry, and trying to model Christ to our children, who has energy left to “fight the good fight”?
But brothers and sisters, hear this: God is not done with America. The sacrifices of Joe Folino, Lou Casciani, and millions more were not in vain. Their courage preserved a nation that could still shine as a beacon, a “city on a hill, “to proclaim the Gospel to the world (Matthew 5:14).
Jesus Himself gave us perspective in Matthew 24:10-14. He warned of a time when many would turn away from the faith, betray one another, hate each other, and fall prey to false prophets and deceptive teachings. Lawlessness would increase, love would grow cold. Sound familiar? Yet right in the middle of those sobering words, He declares hope: “But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
The end is coming, life is finite, tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, but the Gospel advances through faithful endurance. F.B. Meyer once reflected on these very signs: wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, false doctrines, and a world loving pleasure more than God. The hatred of the cross persists, yet so does God’s promise. The outlook is grim, but the uplook? Bright as His unchanging Word.
As parents and leaders in our homes, we are called to endure and proclaim. Our primary battlefield is the family table, the car ride to practice, and the quiet moments in Scripture. Teach your children the truths of God’s Word: creation, sin, redemption through Christ, and the call to live holy lives. Model integrity at work, compassion in service, and unapologetic faith in a culture that may call it outdated. Speak up for biblical values in conversations with friends, at school boards, and in voting booths. Defend free speech and religious liberty, not out of anger, but out of love for the next generation and for a world that desperately needs the hope only Jesus provides.
We don’t fight alone. The same God who sustained Joe in the snows of Elsenborn Ridge and my grandfather on Pacific waters strengthens us today. He equips us through His Spirit, His Word, and His people. When exhaustion hits, run to Him. He renews strength for those who wait on the Lord (Isaiah 40:31).
So let’s rise with resolve. Honor the Greatest Generation by stewarding the freedom they won. Raise children who know Christ and love their country under God. Share the Gospel boldly. It’s the ultimate good news for a dying world. The end may come sooner than we think, but until then, let’s fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith (2 Timothy 4:7).
Because freedom, true freedom in Christ and the liberties He inspired in our founding documents, is worth preserving. And the God who called us is faithful.
He will see us through.
MindWolves 