That’s Just What We Do…

Dear brothers, what’s the use of saying that you have faith and are Christians if you aren’t proving it by helping others? Will that kind of faith save anyone?                                                                                                      James 2:14 (Living Bible)

I saw a piece on the national news today that caught my interest. Since today is Veteran’s Day (but you’ll read this on November 12), the news was about a veteran’s group called Team Rubicon. The group was started by a veteran of the Iraq-Afghanistan deployment era, and he had served several tours in those war zones. Upon his last return, he decided for his family’s sake that he would not take another tour in those dangerous areas. His greatest fear, he said, was visions of his mother having to bury him. His father asked him to retire, and he did.

However, he had a void in his life, and he knew that other veterans would also. They were used to serving others, and upon retiring from active service, they would need to find a way to respond to that call in their life. So, he founded the group called Team Rubicon. This from the Team Rubicon website:

 Team Rubicon is an international disaster response nonprofit that unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly provide relief to communities in need. Founded in 2010 with the expressed goal of quickly responding to large-scale disasters, Team Rubicon has deployed thousands of volunteers across the United States and world to provide relief to communities in need.

These veterans were used to seeing areas devastated by the effects of war. Now they serve in areas devastated by hurricanes, floods, fires, and other natural disasters.

I was drawn to this story because the idea of serving others as a way to live out a missional call in life just resonates so well with my theology. The paradox of life is that we live our life fully by giving it away in service to others. Those veterans, having already put their lives on the line in service to their country are continuing that mission in this powerful way.

In the coming days, I will be sharing a few stories about volunteering as a healthy, and healing, lifestyle. I hope you join me.

Prayer: We are made to serve others in order to serve you. Thank you for that plan, Amen.