Rediscovering Community

During my deployment in Kountze for Disaster Recovery, I was sleeping for some time at the local fire station. That gave me a special opportunity to observe a very close-knit community, in many ways like a church. The firemen (male and female) and their families thoroughly enjoy spending time together. They eat together, laugh together, cry together. When the challenge of serious fires comes, they band together in mutual support. They are of one mind, one heart – they are one, much as the church is one. I am reminded that, in combat, soldiers don’t die for their country or for their family. They die for their buddies. It is the bond among those united in community that is worth dying for.

Seeing their community challenges me to issue a call to a community of wellness. The primary obstacle to the habits that underlie wellness is the ingrained social custom of eating together foods that are customary rather than especially healthful. Secondary obstacles are cooking for taste rather than wellness benefit, and the time-saving convenience of processed foods.

I envision a community in which all members are aware of the harm to their wellness – and their stewardship – in their habits that do not support wellness. As Paul tells us, if my eating meat causes my brother to stumble, I’ll never eat meat again. Paul wrote in the context of meat sacrificed to idols; I suggest that in our time, there is no idol worshiped in eating meat, but one could say that pleasure has become the god of many people. At any rate, what I do influences those around me, for better or worse.

Dream with me for a moment of a community in which none of the benefits of togetherness are lost, but in which the impact on wellness is considered in all activities. Every member recognizes that the joy of wellness is not inconsistent with the joy of close fellowship. It is not necessary to give up anything to be well –- healthy habits are just as enjoyable as anything else that we could do.

Choosing to maintain wellness in order to serve others rather than have to depend on them does not violate any Biblical standards. As we encourage one another to make wise choices, we can grow together in wise stewardship of whatever wellness we have.

The Lord Provides!

Myron Remington
Texas Manager, Mobile Disaster Recovery Center (currently at Kountze, Hardin County)
Myron62@juno.com