USA (MNN) — Answers remain elusive following the first congressional investigation of the July 13 attempt on former President Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testified Monday about security lapses leading up to the shooting, but lawmakers received few answers to their many questions. On Tuesday, Cheatle resigned from her post.
Grief and frustration remain high in the first responder community. Hundreds of firefighters, police, and EMS from Pennsylvania and beyond gathered last week to honor the shooting’s sole casualty, fire chief Corey Comperatore.
A fatal shot struck Comperatore as he shielded his family when gunfire began at the rally.
“When one of your own dies, it’s hard because you’re so close. You have the strongest relationships with the people you spend the most time with,” says Warriors Set Free Director Steve Prince, describing the tight-knit relationships among first responders.
(Photo courtesy of Eric Mclean/Unsplash)
First responders develop these strong bonds based on shared experiences.
“People [who] put on those uniforms go from the worst moment of one person’s life to the worst moment of another person’s life every shift.”
Sometimes, these experiences lead to secondary trauma. Warriors Set Free, a veteran and first responder-focused division of Set Free, helps struggling responders find freedom and healing in Christ. More about that here.
For example, one first responder “showed up to a car accident, and there were multiple people [needing] help. The person he worked on lived, and the others did not,” Prince says.
“We talked through that, and I said, ‘God knew who would live and who would die that day. If it weren’t for you, that one person might not have made it,’” he continues.
“‘If you [had] made another decision, all four of them might have passed.’”
Making life-or-death decisions is a heavy burden. Pray that first responders will have God’s wisdom and protection as they help people in need.
Describing an example prayer, Prince says, “‘Lord, if there’s a firefighter [or] policeman in danger tonight, I ask for Your divine protection. I ask that You would guide them to pull over the correct car that has a criminal in it who’s doing bad things so that the innocent can be saved from evil.’”
Header image is a representative stock photo depicting U.S. firefighters. Photo courtesy of Styves Exantus/Pexels.
