rescue

Waking up in the morning is a blessing even though I went to sleep late last night or early this morning depending on how you define it. I will be sleepy during church and early evening tonight. I don't teach until next week, but I worked on my Sunday School lesson last night. That wasn't what kept me up though. Ken being willing to stay up and both of us having books to read were more responsible.

The lesson next week is on the rescue of the Martin and Willie handcart companies, familiar material. I want to help the class effectively and personally discuss "rescue." My original thinking focused on two questions.

Have you ever rescued anybody?

What was your motivation?

I don't know how to move from physical rescue to emotional or spiritual rescue. I don't want it to happen to fast. Maybe I should ask, "Have you ever physically rescued anybody?"

I did a newspaper search of "rescue" and came up a "bread lady" who runs a food donation and distribution center on her front porch, a London clerk who rescued Jewish children from the Holocaust and a father who drowned in a reservoir while trying to rescue his children. Of the three, the father's motivation is the most clear and understandable. There were also numerous search and rescue teams. For some it was a job. Others were volunteers.

The early pioneers initially went out to rescue the Martin and Willie Handcart companies because the prophet asked them to. When they saw the need compassion kicked in. Even then, some of the rescuers were willing to sacrifice more than others.

It is difficult to anticipate how class members will respond to this kind of an introduction. Maybe comments on this post will give me an idea (if there are any comments).

Steven felt a more significant question would be, "Have you ever been rescued?"