Keeping the Sabbath Holy, God's Way

Many would think of keeping the Sabbath holy as listening to a sermon in church. While the church is where you learn much of what it means to strive to be better person, the proof is in the doing, Sabbath or any other day of the week. 

When in the middle of disaster people sometimes begin to ask themselves questions. Instead of sitting around and asking "Where was God?" people from near and far chose to become an instrument in the Lord's hands by helping those in need, and no further questions were needed. Instead of asking "Do you have plan B?" or even "What can I do to help?" they clearly saw the need where they came and consequently stepped into action. 

Every set of helping hands brought a portion of God's teachings to these people, not by talking but by doing. Everywhere there was "Helping Hands," there was some happiness and good in the middle of all the loss, sadness, grief and disaster, showing the true meaning of being a Christian. God gave us each other to be there for each other as brother and sister. When everything becomes too much for just one set of hands, two or more hearts can share it better! 

When the Hurricane Sandy hit in the Fall of 2012, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints didn't sit around in church for long, to wait for more learning. With winds of up to 109 mph or 175 km/h, affecting the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, Eastern Canada and Eastern United States where it hit 24 states and caused damage in the US alone, estimated at over $71 billion(2012 USD), there was no need to first wait and see how bad it was! 

Thousands of members cancelled church and travelled to the areas where help was needed. They arrived by bus, air and train from across the country to help, and this is where keeping the Sabbath holy takes on a whole new spirit. To paraphrase the scripture in Luke 14:5 "If a pair of helping hands is what's needed when disaster strikes on a Sabbath, then you go and be those helping hands, help your neighbour and be a sister/brother!" 

Many people have the impression that missionaries are people that spend their days in search for people to teach. While that is a portion of the truth, there is another side to the story, rarely seen because it just quietly happens when and where it's needed and it happens all the time. This is why you should see this video and see what also sometimes happens on a mission: 

Hurricane Sandy Helping Hands from Joshua Brown on Vimeo.

Joshua Brown (facebook.com/jbrownphoto) and (http://weddingsbyjoshuabrown.com) made the video and the music is credited to themusicbed.com

Hurricane Sandy turned out to be the second-costliest hurricane in United States history, the deadliest (totalling 285 fatalities) and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy).