Life-Saving Stations

Do you not say, "Four months more and then the harvest?" I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. John 4:35

Author John Ortberg tells the story of a little museum located on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts. The museum is devoted to a volunteer organization that was formed over 300 years ago. In those days, travel by sea was extremely dangerous, and given storms in the Atlantic, and the real rocky coasts of Massachusetts, many lives were lost real close to the shore, within a mile or less of land.

A group who lived on that island could not stand to think about all these people going down so close to them. So, they went into the life saving business. They built little huts that dotted the shore which contained boats and rescue equipment. People were posted in those huts all the time. Their job was to watch the sea twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Any time a ship went down, the word would go out. They would devote everything and risk themselves to save every life they could. Everybody was willing. They did it for no money nor recognition. They did it just because they prized human life. And to remind them of the seriousness of their task, they adopted a motto: "You have to go out, but you do not have to come back."

It's a fascinating thing to read accounts in that museum of people who risked everything, even their lives, to save other people they had never met, faces they had never seen, names they might never know. But over time, things changed and the coast guard started to take over this task. The thinking that carried the day was, "Let the professionals do it. They are better trained. They get paid for it." So, the volunteers stopped manning the little huts. They stopped searching the coastline for sinking ships. They stopped sending out teams to rescue people.

And it is a funny thing. They could not bring themselves to disband, and still exist to this day. It meets every once in a while in New England to have dinners and hand out awards for community service. They enjoy each other's company, sponsor programs and get together. They are just not in the life saving business anymore. They do not know the thrill any more of what it is to risk themselves to save a life that could perish.

It happens all the time. It does not happen in a day or a month. But over time, a church forgets it is in the life saving business. It usually does not disband but continues to meet. People still enjoy each other's company. They still use words like community and have services, programs and buildings. They might even be involved in various forms of community service. They are just not sending out teams any more for people who are going down. They are just not scouring neighborhoods and offices, schools and networks and cities to see if there is someone who is injured and hurting-someone who needs to be saved. This can happen to a church. It can happen to a small group. It can happen to an individual. Jesus is looking for people who are willing to go into the life saving business.

What about us? Are we willing to open our eyes and scour the "fields" around us for the hurting, the injured or the lost? Are we willing to throw out the life preserver of God's message of grace and forgiveness, hope and restoration? Are we ready to exchange the social club busyness for the life saving business?

Father, give me a heart of passion for the hurting and the lost. Give me a burning desire for the Gospel and what it means. Lord, You saved me and set me free. I want to be a vessel of your Message so others may hear and know You personally and passionately. Be glorified! Amen.

Jocelyn Hamsher