Rare men

Ephesians 5:25-26 (NLT)

25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.

The duty of husbands, is to love their wives; for without this they would abuse their superiority and headship, and, wherever this prevails as it ought to do, it will infer the other duties of the relation, it being a special and peculiar affection that is required in her behalf. The love of Christ to the church is proposed as an example of this, which love of his is a sincere, a pure, an ardent, and constant affection, and that notwithstanding the imperfections and failures that she is guilty of. The greatness of his love to the church appeared in his giving himself unto the death for it.

On January 8, 2011, outside a grocery store in Tucson, Arizona, a troubled college-dropout named Jared Lee Loughner opened fire, killing six people and injuring 13 others. He also shot and severely injured U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Dorwan "Dory" Stoddard, a 76-year-old retired construction worker, was among six people shot to death. Stoddard used his body to shelter his wife Mavanell, 75, or Mavy, from the gunfire.

The next week, several hundred mourners gathered for a memorial service for Dory. His loved ones remembered that Dory didn't become a hero during that tragic shooting. For years he had lived with the character of a hero, and on January 8th, 2011 he acted in tune with his character. At the service, Dory's pastor Mike Nowak put it this way: "Dory Stoddard … didn't die a hero, he lived a hero. He completed his heroic act of kindness one final time with his wife, Mavy." Dory's son Dale, one of four sons, recalled a selfless family man known as "Mr. Fixit," who was consistently looking to help others. "He was always helping someone, someone who was hurting, someone who needed some care or just a gallon of gasoline," he told the service, flanked by his three brothers. "Guys like my father are rare."

[Adapted from Tim Gaynor, "Tucson remembers shooting victim who died shielding his wife," Reuters (1-16-11)]

Men are you one of the rare guys who would give their life to protect their family? Christ did. He laid down His life for all those of the church that they may receive eternal life protecting them from the evils of sin.