Love Is in the Fire

Hersson Herrera is a firefighter and a Marine. He lives in Lewisville, Texas, with his wife Amy and daughter Olivia, and attends The Door Church in Coppell, Texas. Hersson joined the Marine Corps hoping to join the Crash Fire Rescue, but the Marines had other ideas for him. And like a good Marine, Hersson said, “Yes, sir!” when he was assigned to load bombs on Harrier jets in the Persian Gulf. After his four-year duty, Hersson pursued his dream of becoming a firefighter. After praying, interviewing, and waiting, God blessed him with the job of his dreams. Now he is a firefighter and paramedic at Station 1 in Carrollton, Texas.

How would you describe your work?

Having just graduated from paramedic school, I am a rookie paramedic, so I’m getting acclimated to the specific responsibilities of the job. We respond to all types of calls, but most of our calls deal with emergency medical situations—or, frankly, what the caller believes to be an emergency medical situation.

As an image-bearer of God, how does your work reflect some aspect of God’s work?

We encounter people in crisis and intervene to provide strength, encouragement, and healing.

People call 911 because they need help. Through God’s gift of modern medicine and technology, we respond with urgency and care. And here’s the thing—sometimes the person who made the 911 call is just having an anxiety attack and needs a trusted source of strength and encouragement. Or sometimes a call is made about someone who is suicidal, and we are first on the scene to try and diffuse the chaos. And of course there are lots of motor vehicle accidents, fires, and other emergencies, too.

Jesus came to our broken world on a rescue mission. As a firefighter, my job is to respond to the brokenness of the world and bring hope and healing in emergencies.

How does your work give you a unique vantage point into the brokenness of the world?

Brokenness has no income level or race. Our station covers a broad spectrum of people, putting us in contact with rich, poor, black, white, and everyone in between. Disaster and death happen to us all—no matter our standing in life. We all need help and salvation.

Jesus commands us to “love our neighbors as ourselves.” How does your work function as an opportunity to love and serve others?

Everyone loves the fire station and the big red truck. We have people coming to the station all the time to meet us or to have us show their kids around. We get to interact with the community all the time—not just on emergency calls. Further, when we take a patient to the hospital I get a lot of alone time with them in the back of the ambulance. This offers a great opportunity to speak hope and encouragement into their difficult situation.