The Star of Life

Mr. Leo R. Schwartz, EMS Branch Chief at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), designed the Star of Life (SOL). The star of life was created in 1973 as a common symbol to be used by US emergency medical services (EMS) and medical goods pertaining to EMS, after complaints from the American National Red Cross objecting to the use of the Red Cross symbol by ambulance services throughout America. However the use of the Red Cross symbol can still be seen on military vehicles, hospital tents and buildings to protect wounded civilian and military personnel as per the Geneva Convention in times of war.

The six barred blue symbol was adapted from the medical identification symbol and was registered on February 1,1977 with the commission of patents and trade marks in the name of the NHTSA.

Each bar on the Star of Life represents one of six functions. They are as follows:

* Detection
* Reporting
* Response
* On Scene Care
* Care in Transit
* Transfer to Definitive Care

The snake and staff in the symbol portray the staff of Asclepius, who in Greek Mythology is the son of Apollo. Asclepius is attributed with the knowledge of healing, and is often pictured standing holding a staff with a snake coiled around it. Over the years the staff has come to represent medicine and healing.

Another reference to a snake on a staff associated with healing comes from the Bible in Numbers 21:9 (NIV) that says, “So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.”

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The page linked to the title contains the above text and seems to suggest that the Biblical reference came after or is somehow inferior to the Greek account. The reality, of course, is that the Greek myth was a modification of the Biblical original - the sign of Moses that pointed to Jesus Christ. Jesus revealed this information to Nicodemus in John 3:14-15:

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life [or that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him]."

The people had been snake-bitten. We have been sin-bitten. The people looked up to the pure bronze, yet scary-looking snake raised high on the pole. We look up to the pure and spotless Lamb of God, disfigured from the beatings and nearly beyond recognition, raised high on the cross. Some of the people believed that this snake-on-a-pole would save them from their snake bites. Some of us believe that this Jesus nailed to a cross would save us from our sin bites. Those who believed were healed; those who did not perished in the wilderness. Those of us who believe are healed and will receive eternal life; those who do not will die in their sins.

Our Star of Life has overcome the world and its evils and has brought many sons to glory.

Silence is Deafening

When my daughter was three, and when we were new to our neighborhood, she would play out front and yell across the street to the then eleven year old neighbor boy, "Do you know Jesus in your heart?" My wife and I would encourage her in this questionning, and it would continue until the boy made his way across the street to our front porch. Then, finally, she would ask in a more quiet tone, "Do you know Jesus in your heart?"

Though not a Gospel presentation, my daughter's question was an attempt to determine if this boy was a Christian. His response, day after day, was always the same, "I think so."

On one or two occasions, I would deepen the waters by explaining that "no one is perfect," and the boy would wholeheartedly agree. Then I would say that the only way to receive eternal life and gain entrance into the kingdom of heaven is to believe in Jesus as Savior. The boy was not a churchgoer, and he acknowledged that he didn't "know too much about the Bible." Strange. I hadn't even mentioned the Bible.

The bottomline is that, on these one or two occasions (out of the 20-30 days on which my daughter would ask the question), the boy would leave our front porch having heard the Gospel that Jesus died to save sinners and was raised from the dead for our justification (Romans 4:25), yet he responded with mere apathetic intellectual assent.

On the days since then, his answer to my daughter's question has not changed from, "I think so," despite my mention of 1 John 5:10-13 (...that you may know you have eternal life).

Here lies the problem. My daughter, now four, no longer asks the question. Has she forgotten? Has she been subconsciously disuaded by the boy's apathy? You know, I wish it were one of these, but I fear most that her cessation has resulted from my silence on the matter. You see, I've never asked the question to the boy, his parents, or any of our neighbors for that matter. Like father, like daughter. At age three, she would do as I said. She would be encouraged and yell across the street. But at age four, she would do as I do. And the silence is deafening.

You Are Slow To Learn

What do pastors do when their flock is apathetic, or caught up in the things of this world?

Perhaps the author of Hebrews addressed that question with the following:

"We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death [or useless rituals], and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so" (Hebrews 5:11-14; 6:1-3).

That about which the author has much to say involves the High Priesthood of Jesus, who "offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him" (Hebrews 5:7-9). It is this information on which the author would like to expound, but he cannot. His audience is slow to learn.

The author then shows some righteous anger: "By this time you ought to be teachers." I wonder how long the author had been working with this audience. 6 months? A year? 5 years? More? Many pastors, I'm sure, feel this frustration at times in their ministries. How should they respond? Continue looking at the passage with me.

The author notes that milk, representing the spiritual basics, is not a bad thing - for infants. But the mature need solid food to become "acquainted with the teaching about righteousness." It's a bit of a rebuke. He's saying, "Grow up!" Paul says the same thing to the Corinthians: "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready." (1 Corinthians 3:1-2). It's a sad thing for a pastor who has worked dilgently to see such worldliness in his flock.

But the story doesn't end with rebuke. Notice that the author of Hebrews explains what is beyond milk. "Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." "Constant use" is the key to this sentence. Today's lay people are as happy as infants to lap up milk every Sunday. The occasional mid-week Bible study might introduce a little solid food, but there's no sign of "constant use." "Constant use" is an encouraging call to "leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity." And so the pastor must always be encouraging his flock, never leaving them downtrodden after rebuke.

How is the pastor to be faithful in this endeavor? Hebrews 6:3 yields the answer: "God permitting, we will do so." There is a reliance on God's sovereignty in election and justification and sanctification that comes only from the grace of the Holy Spirit. This author had that - and Jesus had that. Read John 6:27,35-40,44-48 to see if you can find it. There are a great many pastors who need this gift of grace in their challenging ministries. Would you pray for them today?

Shifting Sand

I don't know about you, but I think it's a lot more fun to play in the sand than on a rock. The sand has a great texture, especially when it's cool on a hot day. You can do a lot of fun things with sand - My children like to construct towers and build walls with shovels and buckets; they also enjoy playing with animals in the sand, burying and finding them, pretending they are lost and found. But when it comes to the end of the day and playtime is over, we don't stay in the sand. We go inside our house, and there's a comfort there. We are "safe" when we are out of the sand and in our home, often subconsciously knowing that it built on a solid foundation.

After teaching a hard truth about unsaved people who, thinking they are saved, will cry out to Him on the last day, "Lord, Lord," Jesus tells the parable in Matthew 7:24-27 of the man who builds his house on the rock compared to the man who builds his house on the sand. The message is this: Trust ad obey; there's no other way. Here are the lyrics to a couple of songs that speak to the reality of building our homes on the solid foundation of God's Word.

Shifting Sand by Caedmon's Call

Sometimes I believe all the lies
So I can do the things I should despise
And every day I am swayed
By whatever is on my mind
I hear it all depends on my faith
So I'm feeling precarious
The only problem I have with these mysteries
Is they're so mysterious
And like a consumer I've been thinking
If I could just get a bit more
More than my 15 minutes of faith,
Then I'd be secure

My faith is like shifting sand
Changed by every wave
My faith is like shifting sand
So I stand on grace

I've begged you for some proof
For my Thomas eyes to see
A slithering staff, a leperous hand
And lions resting lazily
A glimpse of your back-side glory
And this soaked altar going ablaze
But you know I've seen so much
I explained it away

My faith is like shifting sand
Changed by every wave
My faith is like shifting sand
So I stand on grace

Waters rose as my doubts reigned
My sand-castle faith, it slipped away
Found myself standing on your grace
It'd been there all the time

My faith is like shifting sand
Changed by every wave
My faith is like shifting sand
So I stand on grace
Stand on grace

My Hope is Built on Jesus (The Solid Rock) by Edward Mote (1834) and John Dykes (1860)

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ the solid rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ the solid rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ the solid rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.