Parable of the Life Saving Station
On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude little life saving station. The building was just a hut and there was only one boat. The few devoted staff members or surfmen kept a constant watch over the sea and each other. Their passion for rescue energized and unified them. With no thought for themselves, they tirelessly went out day and night searching for the lost. As a result, many lives were saved. The news soon began to leak out and this wonderful little station became famous. Some of the folks who were rescued remained at the life saving station and were trained as surfmen. Other people in the community also began to associate with this now famous structure. People began to vigorously donate their time and money to the station. New boats were bought and new crews were trained. The little life station grew.
Some of the newer members of the life saving station began to focus on the building. They were unhappy that the structure was so crude and so poorly equipped. It was felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they began to remodel the building. Now, because the life saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, they redecorated it beautifully and furnished the enlarged facility exquisitely. Many of the members were proud of the large liturgical life saving boat up on the front wall in the meeting room. The life saving motif still prevailed even though fewer members were now interested in going on life saving missions. Therefore, they hired professional lifesaving crews to join the remaining passionate surfmen. About this time, a large ship was wrecked off the coast. The crews quickly responded and brought in boatloads of cold, wet and half-drowned people. They were dirty, sick and some of them even had colored skin. Very few of the members were willing to care for these hurting people. The beautiful new facility was considerably messed up. This upset most of the members who had given so much of their time and money to have a modern life saving station. So, they hired more care-givers and built a shower house outside the life saving station where victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside their newly remodeled facility.
At the next members meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s life saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the station. Other members insisted upon life saving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life saving station. This precious minority wanted to focus on rescuing the lost and equipping the surfmen. These are and always have been the core values of the life saving station. In spite of their passion, the minority were finally voted down and told that if they wanted continue those archaic practices; they could begin their own life saving station down the coast. So they did.
As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the previous one. It eventually evolved into a social club, which brought about a split and the birth of yet another life saving station further down the coast. History continues to repeat itself, and today you will find a few life saving stations sprinkled in the midst of a large number of exclusive social clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown!
Grace Community Church is committed to being a Palatine life saving station!