My guest blogger this week is Jason Sautel. Jason is one curious dude. His background as a firefighter in Oakland has given him hundreds of stories to share about life, death, pain, joy, and forgiveness. Today he maintains an online ministry to over half a million people, and has recently completed a book to come out in September (highly recommended … check it out here).
But what Jason does doesn’t fully reflect who he is.
Jason is a bundle of energy, curious about everything, talkative to the point of annoying, street smart in a way that can’t be measured, a loving husband and father, and a passionate advocate for Jesus.
What lays just under the surface of his sometimes chaotic energy is one who has experienced pain, regret, and sadness at levels more than most can bear. This turbulence has created a man who knows what it means to be rescued by love, and who has a passion for sharing this love.
I asked Jason to write for my blog because you need to meet him. What he came up with is fun. So here you go:
Junkyards Save Lives
I can’t speak for every fire department, but during my time at the Oakland Fire Department we had a great working relationship with our local junkyards. Believe it or not, the lessons we learned from those obscure Superfund Sites hidden throughout the industrial areas of the city helped us save multiple lives.
When we had a class of new kids getting ready to graduate the fire academy and come into the real world (the firehouses), we would take them to a local junkyard and give them some real-world experience. With most businesses, you could expect to talk with a manager or one of their assistants when you called – but junkyards were different! When we called a junkyard to schedule a training day, regardless of which one it was, the owner ALWAYS answered the phone! And he would be as rude as could be, but in a kind and caring way, that always made me laugh.
You could be mid-sentence, but as soon as you told them the date and time you were hoping for, they would say, “Ok, I got it!”, as they hung up on you. But when we arrived, they ALWAYS had everything set up and ready to go for us! And if we were late…. Well that would be a post all in itself titled, “Hell Hath No Fury Like A Junkyard Owner Made To Wait!”
By now, you are probably asking yourself, “What the heck could the fire department find in a junkyard that could help them save a life?” The answer is simple – they had cars, wrecked cars! We would teach our “cut and rescue” classes there. “Cut and rescue” is a fireman’s way of saying, “We are going to teach you worthless pieces of sh… I mean Firefighter Recruits, how to use the jaws of life and extricate a trapped victim from a wrecked car.”
The knowledge and wisdom we ALL walked away with not only kept us safe- It also gave us the experience we needed to save the lives of the citizens we were blessed to serve! So, next time you see an old rusty junkyard covered in tetanus, tip your hat to it and say, “Thank you” because, Junkyards Save Lives!
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans 12:4-8 ESV