I’m sure most of us have been there: You’re trying to figure out why traffic has ground to a halt and after inching along for a few minutes, you see an ambulance, policemen or the fire department breezing through traffic or off on the side of the road helping people who have been involved in an accident. If you’re anything like me, you might find yourself praying for the victims. What about the first responders who race to their aid? I know it’s probably a thankless job, and I can’t imagine the things they’ve seen or had to deal with. Today, please join me in saying a prayer for our first responders.

Lord, we come before you thanking you for this day, and we thank you for your many blessings. We thank you for keeping us safe last night and for watching over us as we rose this morning. Lord, today we come lifting our first responders to you. We ask that you protect their hearts and minds and give them the energy and stamina they need to do the job you have called them to do.

Lord, we know that while we are busy running when something happens, first responders are racing to the emergency and sometimes putting their lives on the line. We thank you for what you have called them to do and for the lives they have saved. We ask your blessings for their families who often wonder as their loved one walks out the door if they will ever see them again. Give their families strength to be the support system the first responders need.

Help us as the public to step back and allow first responders to do their jobs. Give us an extra dose of patience when traffic grinds to a halt or when we can’t get to where we need to get or go where we need to because of someone else’s emergency to remember that we are blessed that it is not us.

Lord, we thank you for first responders, and we ask you to bless and keep them all the days of their lives. It’s in Jesus’ name that we prayer. Amen.