Impacting Lives

There was a funeral for a friend of mine who was on the fire department. Over the years, as he moved around, he served on quite a few departments. There was an overwhelming presence of firefighters in their dress blues. I know that part of it was because he was only in his 40s, but also, part of it is that he had impacted a lot of lives. I even talked with some that weren’t on a department with him that had worked side by side with him when mutual aid was given. I could list a lot of characteristics that made him into a great friend and fellow fireman. Part of this pondering is to honor all those that serve their communities. Part of it is to honor him as a friend. The main reason, however, is that this is a great example of what the body of Christ should look like. The first quality I see is a desire to serve those around him. As Christians, that doesn’t just look like assisting one in need, although that is part of it. It is a desire to bring Christ wherever we go. Another quality is his desire to jump in and help. When he moved to a different township, he would join the fire department there because he knew how to serve through that. As Christians, are we so quick to want to jump in and share the gifts and abilities that we have? A third quality was that he was generous. I know of so many people he helped materially and by lending a helping hand. Yet another quality was that of asking questions and seeking clarity. He always wanted to do the best that he could. How many times as Christians are we not sure of something theologically or just clarity on a passage but never followed up to find out what it meant. This fireman was friendly, gentle, helpful, hardworking, etc. It was hard to say goodbye. Now we need to focus on moving forward, displaying many of the characteristics that defined who he was. I should put it the proper way and say that we need to pattern our lives after Christ and those characteristics will be ours as well. As we think about gifts that we can pass on, the greatest gift we can offer others is the hope and knowledge of God. The biggest gift we can offer is our heart to God, fully surrendered. My prayer is that many of those that gathered for the funeral, that don’t have a deep relationship with God, might hunger to know that comfort, peace and assurance from God. Father, open the hearts of those that gathered to mourn, that they might draw nearer to You and hunger for what only You can giver. Amen