Saving Lives
The piercing shriek of the smoke alarm jerked her awake. She bolted up and looked around her. She couldn’t see any smoke in the air, but the smell was unmistakable. She jumped from her bed and ran from the room out into the hallway yelling as she went.
“Steven!!”
“Jessie!!”
Both of her teenagers were up as soon as she called their names. She silently thanked God for the hundredth time that she had responsible children.
“Steven, grab your phone and what clothes you can and get outside! Jessie, get Boomer and meet us on the lawn! Kids you’ve got 2 minutes!!”
She ran back to her room and snatched up her purse, phone and laptop and ran out the front door to their meeting place in front of the house. Both of her children were there along with their dog. She turned back to look at the house and saw smoke begin to curl up from the roof.
“I already called 911 mom,” Steven said.
She just nodded and gathered her children to her. They clung to each other as the sound of sirens filled the night sky.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”
Matthew 7:24-25
What do you value?
If your house caught fire, and you had to choose what you could take with you, what would it be? Do you grab ID? Clothes? Phone? When it comes right down to it. When we have to make a choice, we know what we value the most.
It’s the lives of the people we love.
In 2018, a 19-year-old entered a high school in Florida, pulled a fire alarm, and as students and teachers were exiting their classrooms, he began shooting, killing 17 people and wounding 17 others. As the nation watched the news, hearts filled with grief and eyes filled with tears because somehow it couldn’t be believed it was happening again. Video showed streams of students running across the parking lot, hands in the air with looks of fear and anguish written across their faces, then heartbreaking, tearful reunions of frantic, distraught parents hugging their kids, and it became crystal clear what was important…what was valued. The lives of children.
It is in the frantic times, the desperate times, the trying times, where our true values and beliefs are tested.
Our beliefs determine our values, and thus determine our actions. When you come right down to it, when you take away all the noise, the distractions, and illusions of significance, what’s left is what is really important. When the storm blows, you find out what is nailed down and what is just tacked on. If we are not anchored by beliefs that define our personal values, we will be tossed about and work tirelessly but live an unfulfilled life.
So. What do you believe?
What is your “why”?
Do you believe that Jesus can completely transform lives? Has He transformed yours? Are you a partner with God in advancing the Gospel? God is calling all of us to magnificent works! Works that only He can take the credit for!
When we realize that God intentionally places people around our lives for us to help and lead, we really come alive and begin to fulfill the mission of the church.
There are people all around us that need to know the Gospel. And if we aren’t grounded in it, if we aren’t anchored in it, if we ourselves are “tossed about”, how can we lead others to know our amazing Savior?
You have been called to something great! We all have. It’s time to stop hiding behind the guy on the stage. It’s time to step up and start pulling people from the flames of hell.
Because you don’t have to take a bullet to save a life.
Dear Father. It’s one thing to say what I value, it’s another thing altogether when it’s tested. When the testing times come, may I be true to Your Truth! I pray that when the storms blow, Your foundation is what remains. Make me strong Father! Amen.
