Search and Rescue
When I
lived in Summit County Colorado, I worked for the Summit County Sheriff’s
Office for 11 years. I worked in a civilian capacity as a Records Clerk and one
of my responsibilities involved the management and storage of every record
generated by the Sheriff’s Office and Jail. I would have to read and review each
of the reports completed by the Deputies to make sure they were free of errors
and compliant with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and FBI reporting
requirements. I also had to view all photos associated with the reports. We had
a Special Operations Department that often worked with the Summit County Rescue
Group with Search & Rescue incidents. I would hear of these incidents as
they unfolded and would also have to read and review these reports if our
Special Operations were involved.
By the time
I received any reports in my box, I already knew what took place and
what the outcome was. When there were fatalities involved, I had to prepare
myself for the records requests that I was sure I was going to receive from the
family members. I would read these reports as an outsider and would at times feel
my heart go to my stomach. I could only imagine what the loved ones were going
to feel when they read the same report. For each report that involved a death
whether it was accidental, suicide, or homicide, I had to treat it as any other
report and remind myself that I had a job to do and not get emotionally
involved. I remember I had a co-worker that would ask me to sit with her when
she would have to view the photos involving a death. She would find it
difficult to look at the photos alone. Through the years, I got more
comfortable with looking at the photos which I was not sure if it was good or
bad. It was good because it helped me do my job but at the same time, I wondered
if I had become numb. To some degree, I think I did.
After reading this week’s lesson about search and rescue, it caused me to reflect on my own feelings towards those who do not know God. Today, I had to make a dreaded call that I knew was going to involve an awfully long wait time on hold. I figured I should probably be productive in the process, so I decided to do one of my workout videos while I was on hold and even handled a couple of chores too. Sure enough, I was on hold for about 45 minutes. I was literally multi-tasking! Once the representative came on the line, she was very pleasant and while she was trying to resolve my issue, we began to make small talk and chat about the craziness of the pandemic, and towards the end of the call, I felt the Lord telling me to pray for her. I asked her if I could pray for her and I stated I would be quick because I did not want to take up all her time since I was sure there were other calls she needed to answer. She responded with “take your time”! She was so appreciative and stated I was an angel sent to her specifically. I would like to think this could be an example of a spiritual search and rescue. Like all search and rescue missions, they are not planned and can happen at any time. It is a matter of being prepared and equipped with the tools you need to accomplish the mission.
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