If you were in the middle of town mid-day this last Tuesday, you would have seen a huge American flag hanging down from two fire department ladders on either side of the street. And if you were there at just the right time, you would have seen a hearse followed by an old fire truck (built in 1939) with a casket in the back draped with a flag.

The occasion was the honoring of a longtime first responder, Jim Ferrell, who also happened to be a friend of mine and a member of my church. I was privileged to be the pastor for the services honoring Jim’s life of dedication. Jim did a lot of things all throughout the community, but I would like to tell you a little of what I know of his 25 years with the Hillsboro Fire Department.

One time a neighbor was having a field fire and Jim showed up as a Good Samaritan to help put out the fire. Afterward, the guys on the crew told him that that they had an opening, and maybe he wanted to join up? Turns out he did, and he never looked back.

Back in the day they didn’t have communication devices that clipped onto their belts telling them when to come running. The siren would go off and people like Jim stopped whatever they were doing and got to the firehouse as quickly as possible to go on an emergency run. In Jim’s case, he hoofed it up the alley from his house running all the way to get on the truck. They also didn’t have much safety equipment and people from Jim’s era may not have chosen to wear it even if it was available. Sometimes Jim would come back from a fire with soot encrusted all over his face. Just think of all of the stuff they were breathing in when they were putting out a fire.

I was also told that on Sundays they wore white shirts when on duty. Those shirts started out bleach white at the beginning of a shift, but after cutting someone out of a vehicle or providing first aid or doing whatever was needed, Jim would come home with blood spattered all over his shirt. His wife, Sue, would just shake her head and say, “There goes another shirt ruined.”

Firefighters also had to know where to go without the modern GPS systems we’ve grown so used to. As a driver, Jim had to know the territory, what road went where, whose farm was whose, and how to get to a place in the shortest amount of time. Directions were with landmarks like, “Go down a certain road, turn right at the big tree, when you cross the little bridge over the creek, go to the third house down on the left.” We can’t imagine operating like that today, but Jim did, the people he served with did, and they did it well.

I’d always noticed that Jim had a tremor in one arm extending down to his hand. It looked like Parkinson’s, but it wasn’t. It came from an old injury when Jim was up on a ladder with a buddy fighting a fire. A box gutter came loose and knocked his buddy off the ladder up above Jim, and brick and debris came hurtling down and knocked Jim off the ladder too. He fell about 10 feet. I don’t know if the injury came from the stuff that hit him or him hitting the ground, but his shoulder was separated and he had nerve damage that lasted the rest of his life. By the time Jim was a captain with 25 years of service behind him, he couldn’t lift that arm up above his shoulder. Like any old firefighter, he had the scars, wounds and lasting damage to his body after years of serving our community.

I also know that Jim’s family was affected by his work at the fire department. Sometimes it was a good effect, like when Jim dropped off one of his boys at the elementary school in a fire engine. His son was the coolest kid in school that day. Sometimes the family Christmas got delayed by a day or two. If Jim was on duty on Christmas Day, the family adjusted. On a day-to-day level, the whole family learned to eat their meals together quickly just in case they were interrupted, and often they were.

Jim was a humble guy. He didn’t like drawing attention to himself. He would probably be embarrassed by my choosing to write about him, but I believe I have good reasons for doing so.

First, I just want to go on record to thank him publicly for his impact on our community. The fire department has been at the heart of our city for decades, providing service to the rest of us in the worst times of crisis and need in our lives. It’s good to give thanks for a life well-lived. My other reason is this: there are a lot of people like Jim currently serving as first responders. They are in the fire department, or the police force, or serving as EMTs, or in our local hospital’s emergency room. They cut us out of car wrecks, or put out our fires, or give us mouth-to-mouth or CPR, or bandage up our wounds. They don’t do it for recognition or words of gratitude, but it doesn’t hurt to show them and tell them.

Next time you bump into one of them, stop and thank them. Tell them how proud and grateful you are to have them serving us. Next time someone’s in trouble, it could be you or someone close to you. Make sure they know in advance that you are confident in them even as you are counting on them. It may encourage them to keep on going on the days that are really tough.

Derek Russell is pastor of the Hillsboro Global Methodist Church. He loves Jesus, family, dogs and football.