Even at Christmas life goes on

My other "job" too often reminds me of that fact.

After eating a great meal with family and friends we gathered around to read the Christmas story (the real one). I opened up the Bible and found the passage in Luke I wanted to read when my cell phone rang. "Chaplain, this is Dare Central. Can you respond to a call in East Lake?"

I had been listening on my pager to the search for a missing boater. Apparently he had been found and the news wasn't good for his family. Their chaplain was out of town for Christmas. So I handed Andy the Bible and excused myself and drove 35 minutes out to a grieving wife of 46 years, kids and multiple grandkids; all gathered for a fun family Christmas. Their uneaten Christmas dinner was still on the kitchen counter. They were waiting for him to come home. I don't know if they ever ate any of it. Today they're preparing for a funeral.

While I was enroute to East Lake my phone rang. It was one of our fire captains. But this news was good. One of our firefighters became a new daddy on Christmas. Life is indeed a mixed bag.

Then yesterday afternoon as I was getting ready to head home for a bite, then to join our youth at the bowling center for some fun an alarm was sounded for a house on fire in Mann's Harbor. By the time the second alarm was sent I was already on my way to the fire station. When we arrived the house was obviously going to be a total loss, so I sought out the homeowners and assisted them and contacted the Red Cross. Their 3 year old soundside home burned to the ground; everything lost.

Everything but their lives and the clothes on their backs. Had the fire erupted just a few hours later when they were asleep it would have likely been a tragedy with more than "stuff" being lost.

What's valuable to you? Family? Possessions? The cold hard facts of life are that nothing we have here lasts forever. And life goes on, even at Christmas. So we have to be prepared.

I hope you are.