The Volunteer

I've been thinking about sacrifice this week for a couple of reasons. First of all, Lent began this week.  Second of all, my brother Tim had a pretty exciting moment when he released a song he wrote about volunteer firemen.

Most of my life, I've never been willing to give up my own safety, let alone life for someone else.  I was single until I was 32.  Although I always wanted kids, I was pretty well self-insulated until about 13 years ago.  That's when I got married and had kids.  This, of course, is a game changer for most of us.    You don't know how much you can love another person until you become a parent.

Then another revelation comes along that this is how much Jesus loves you. He loved you enough to give up his life for you. I'm not sure how anyone really understand that love, but I do think God gave us children so we could understand it better.  He did it, knowing that some would never say so much as thank you.  He did it anyway. Lent gives us a yearly reminder of that.  We try to focus on becoming more open to sacrifice as we remember the sacrifice he made for us.


I'm a firm believer that things merge together in life to show us how everything is connected. We get the same lessons over and over again in different forms.  As I mentioned, my brother released a song he wrote this week called "The Volunteer".  It is a tribute to volunteer firemen who take this concept of sacrifice very seriously.  They put themselves in danger for people they don't even know. Tim was a volunteer fireman himself for many years and wrote this song from his experience. Check out his song here on YouTube for a sample.  You can purchase this song as a download as well from CDBaby.

It's important to remind ourselves there are people in the world like this.  It can seem impossible at times to live up to Jesus's example until we remember there are people like volunteer firemen who do it on a daily basis.  They want to do it for people they've never even met, whether or not they ever get a thank you.  They do it anyway.  Isn't that just what Jesus did?  He volunteered for us, for our lives.  Wouldn't it be a better deal for all of us if we could embrace this notion?

Thank a volunteer fireman if you get a chance.  And download "The Volunteer".

Kim