It is a commonly known fact that those that care for others the most often receive the least care or concern in return… It is commonly known that those who give the most of themselves, who bear their souls, and lift up others in prayer often suffer in silence with their own struggles of sin and pain… To those who call out from the depths of despair… When you have walked through the darkness of your circumstance… Take […]
Many of us complain through our joys rather than celebrate them… We fail to realize that our lives are but mere moments… And it’s up to us to either live with remorse or cherish them… In one moment, we stand before God at an altar… In one moment, we cannot believe that our marriage has faltered… In one moment, we hold a precious new born child… In one moment, we are signing papers over differences that can’t be reconciled… In […]
In the midst of the storms of this life, have we considered how well we are communicating with the One who controls the winds and the waves? In the middle of the firefight when the flames are raging, how well are we communicating with the Ultimate Incident Commander? “Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me for in you my soul takes refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. I cry out to […]
The Shareholders Meeting: In a dimly lit room holding about thirty individuals from various countries, backgrounds, and experience levels all sat conversing their vested interest in a precious commodity. There were questions posed from those transitioning from one point of leadership to another. There were questions asked from those just beginning their journey in investing in this commodity. Thoughts were provoked, hearts were stirred, and the young and the elder sat at the same table without rank or recognition all […]
The Shortest & Most Powerful Verse: “Jesus wept” (John 11:35) As firefighters, we don’t like to admit that we often hurt. Not just a physical pain from our work but an inner torment. We often push down the emotions from the things we see, the struggles in our own lives, and the stress we experience. Then in one moment, we erupt as if our emotional pressure relief valve gives up. The tears come and they fall like rain. Perhaps, in […]
We thank our brother Jarret Keith for courageously sharing his testimony with all of us. Read on for encouragement: There have been some recent occurrences that have changed my life and I feel the need to share it with all of you. I have recently decided to accept Jesus into my heart again. I accepted him into my heart before and strayed away from the word of God. But this past Friday I was at work at the Fire Dept. […]
In the world today, many have struggled to make ends meet. Many have struggled with the loss of their jobs, their homes, and their finances. In the midst of the world of financial insecurity, have we not seen the danger of placing our hope and trust in money? In a blink of an eye, a lifetime of work and savings can be erased… In a bad day at the stock market, retirement dreams can be wiped out… In an unexpected […]
In the fire service, we are taught when dealing with hazardous materials incidents that we are to: Recognize, Notify, Identify, & Protect: In our personal lives, we will ultimately find that our environments are often hazardous to our health. We may be in the most vibrant, passionate, and fired up stage of our lives and yet be in an environment that does everything to poison, condemn, and cause us to doubt. We often forget, that we were made for a […]
Do Organizational Processes Affect Individual Firefighter Ethical Performance? Clearly, public service ethics has become a very broad and often ambiguous category that sometimes generates controversy as to what constitutes the term” (Zamor, p.1). Yet in the realm of public service, it continues to demand individuals of higher moral character and behavior while failing to produce a consistent example or mechanism of enforcement. Why is this so? One begins to wonder, with all of the emphasis on the individual how much […]
In the fire service, we follow the ‘chain of command’ in which we communicate to our immediate supervisor. We follow this out of respect and out of the knowledge we are not allowed to go directly to the Chief without representation. In our lives, we sometimes feel we cannot go to God with our troubles. We feel unworthy and that the distance between our hearts and God is too far. Let us consider for a moment what Jesus did for […]