For many, the thought of needing help or needing to be rescued only happens on the frightful day they hope never comes.  The comfort of knowing that, if something ever did happen, there would be someone there to pull them out of a burning home, pick them out of flooding waters, resuscitate them back to life after a heart attack, or even save their family pet from death after it falls down a drain, is all they need.

          Like those who give their lives to serve our country overseas, there are thousands who give their lives right down the street from us.  They live normal lives like everyone else.  We pass them at the grocery store, we drive by their homes, and our kids may even be their kid’s friends at school.   They are often the unsung heroes; the ones who save lives but are never called out by name. 

          Greatness in today’s world is often what we ascribe to the those who can make the most baskets, most touchdowns, or knock out the most people.  Or, it may be the one who is the most talented, most beautiful, or most funny.  They may even be a politician (well, maybe that’s a stretch).  No matter how you look at it, in America at least, the one who stands above the rest is called the greatest.

          God’s view of greatness is much different.  In His eyes, those who are the least shall be the greatest.  That’s not to say those who are the weakest or most poor will be the greatest, necessarily (although He loves the humble and poor).  No, it’s those who will lay down their lives for others.  The Bible says that there is no greater love than to give our life for another.  To me, that perfectly describes our fireman. 

          The courage to run into harm’s way and not from it, when you know you have a family at home depending on you, to save another, is a true mark of greatness.  The willingness to risk one’s life by hanging off a burning building ten stories tall by a rope to save a child, or family, from flames is bravery that words can’t begin to describe. 

          So, tomorrow, as you’re driving to work and happen to pass by your local fire station, a paramedic vehicle, or maybe even run into a fireman at the grocery store, stop and take a moment to thank them.  If you can’t stop, say a prayer for them that God would protect them as they risk their lives for the most vulnerable around us.  I hope I will never have to see them at my car door with the Jaws of Life or at my home putting out a fire that destroys everything I have.  But, just knowing they are there, is something I will always be thankful for…

Love always,

Brad