God's First Responders

 

Over the past few weeks we have all experienced first hand the devastating role of what a storm can do to ravage everything one has in just a matter of moments. As I took in the sights and sounds of the process of destruction to recovery, God has given me some insight on how this could relate to our spiritual lives.

Just as the destructive power of a tornado demolishes everything in its path, many people have been ravaged spiritually by the personal storms of life - be it through sin, situations, emotional distress, drug abuse, addiction, divorce, etc.

In the aftermath of a tornado you see broken shells of homes and businesses - only pieces of what they once were remain. Similiarly, people ravaged by life's storms have been beaten down over and over again until they are simply a shell of what once was. Their spiritual person has been chipped away bit by bit until only an empty, hollow person remains.

In the minutes after the initial trauma of the storm has occurred there are often victims wandering aimlessly trying to figure out where to go and what to do next.  So goes the spiritually ravaged - turning here and there, seeking out some form of help.

As people of God it is our job to become God's first responders to the victims of life's storms.

It is our job to move in, pick up the pieces, and guide the lost toward the path to recovery. We are to bring hope to those who have lost all hope and bring light into the darkness of a ravaged life. We have been called to go into the rubble of these destroyed lives, pull them out, and nurse their wounds.

There is a whole world of people torn apart by life's storms out there waiting to be rescued - will you step up and be one of God's first responders?