In the late 1980s, while serving as the chaplain at the Navy Air Facility, Washington DC, I led a seminar on conducting casualty assistance calls to officers and NCOs who were assigned to difficult task of notifying the NOK (next of kin) of the death of their service member, usually as a result of a training accident.

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As you probably know, a chaplain always accompanies the CACO (casualty assistance calls officer) on the notification. The class contained the how-to’s of making the call from start to finish, do’s and don’ts, etc., a most difficult, but important and personally rewarding task.

In my two years at that station, we conducted many calls, mostly non-combat, peace-time deaths. Among other things, it reinforced the extreme importance of the military family unit. There is something about military families that is next to impossible to explains to others.

Suffice it to say, God bless them for their sacrifices.

Thinking about this leads me to reflect on the role of families in society. There used to be high school and college classes taught on Marriage and Family. The Bible has much to say about the importance of the family, and it offers healthy advice. 

It tells us to honor our fathers and mothers and how to raise children. Of the numerous Bible references, these two are notable: Proverbs 22:6 and Proverbs 31:10-31.

According to Biblical teaching, families are the fundamental building blocks of society.   Whenever you find parents who place God as the center of the household, along with obedient children, you will find a model to emulate.