When I'm My Brother's Keeper: One Life in the Hands of Another

My oldest son is about to deploy to war. I asked him the other night if he was getting worried. He replied that all soldiers get worried. I tried to give him some encouragement, something moms always feel they need to do. I gave him some words of hope, not to be afraid, trusting that our time is in God's hands, that we live one day at a time, and do our best. Then his words struck me and I could see in his eyes the heaviness as he spoke of the lives of others that would be in his hands. That is a heavy thought.
I can still see the look in his eyes. The next time we spoke about his deployment, I wanted to give him a few more encouraging words. For one thing, how proud I am of him. He is a thoughtful young man, serious minded, honest, hard working, and cares about others. I told him that he is someone I would trust with my own life, and feel confident in his leadership.
I started to think about being responsible for someone else, even to the point of being responsible for life itself. This is a big reality for a soldier heading to war. In the professional world I think of doctors, emergency workers like firefighters and police, those who deal often with life and death situations. Then I thought we are really all in this place, and should be mindful of our reponsibility towards others. How we live could bring us face to face with life and death.
I am a parent. The moment I learned I was to become a parent, that thought and reality of bringing life into the world made me more conscious of the responsibility I had for the very life of my child. While I believed my children were in God's hands, I still felt the burden of responsibility for them. I am a steward in God's world. I am responsible for the way I treat others, as well as how I treat the world around me. Why? Because what I do impacts more than me. In a sense, I am my brother's keeper. We all are. Maybe we forget now and then. Maybe until something big confronts us, we don't think much about it. We are all to be responsible. And we need to support and encourage those who are faced with carrying larger burdens.
My son and others are going to feel what it is to hold a person's life in their hands. What happens if a life is lost? What happens when circumstances move outside of what a person can control? I pray he and those he is serving with will not face this kind of situation. I pray for the soldiers responsible for my son. I pray they will find peace and no harm will come to them. God bless and protect our soldiers. God bless America.