I found myself in tears this morning, as I read the morning paper about an older couple that perished in a house fire on Monday. The act itself was tragic, but the final reconstruction and last moments of their lives are what opened up the floodgates. The gentleman was a Vietnam disabled veteran who lost his legs and suffered brain injuries, as the result of stepping on a landmine. The sweet couple met as kids in school and they were inseparable.

As the fire engulfed their home, the wife was attempting to rescue her husband from the blazing inferno and instead of just saving herself, she stayed right beside the man she loved, so they would be inseparable in life and in death. This type of love is rare and this type of heroism is something you only hear about on the battle field, while in the home, our families are disintegrating and the person we once said, “I do” to now only receives disdain, contempt and little concern or value. This is not the model God instituted and our disregard for His word has led our country to have the highest divorce rate in the world and has caused over 27 million children to grow up in a fatherless home.

This story of love and compassion shown by the veteran’s wife is what God has called each of us to do. The culture and de-narration of life makes you believe you can go through life simply believing you are the most important thing and that you don’t need family and community to exist or to be happy. Each of us must find something and someone we are willing to die for because if something or someone is not worth dying for, then it is certainly not worth living for. Each of us has a part to play in something so much bigger than ourselves, but if we can’t demonstrate love in our own homes, how are we going to share it with the lost and hurting world God has called us to reach?

Everybody should know what it’s like to love and be loved by; it is through this realization that we find our hope, meaning, purpose, and our sense of redemption. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family members and friends for their loss, and I hope it is a reminder to everyone who reads this story of not only what God has called us to do, but also the sacrifice Jesus made when He laid down His life to save our own. True love and devotion is shown by what we are willing to sacrifice.

Photo by: JENNIE McKEON
315-4434 | @JennieMnwfdn
jmckeon@nwfdailynews.com