Often, when tragedies happen, people complain about God’s absence. Why didn’t he do something? Why didn’t he rescue the victims?
Still, I would venture a guess that every day there are thousands of small rescues that go unnoticed.
A little boy falls down and injures himself—and the mother is right there to patch him up. A teenage girl gets her heart broken by a boyfriend—and her sister comforts her.
A very dramatic rescue unfolded recently near Canton, Texas, after tornadoes ravaged the area. A family on their way to a shelter in their SUV ended up in a terrible situation, upside down in a ditch filled with rushing water.
It was every parent’s nightmare—the adults trapped in the front seat, while their two babies were in car seats behind them, with water rushing in through a broken rear window.
The first Good Samaritan to arrive on the scene was a woman who called 911—and seconds later, people driving by saw the overturned car and stopped to help.
The men who plunged into the water risked their lives to save the strangers in the vehicle.
Meanwhile, the woman stood by, praying aloud, “In the name of Jesus, Lord, let these babies breathe!”
One of the babies looked lifeless, and the man performing CPR later admitted he feared the worst, but when the prayers started, the baby reacted.
Thanks to the efforts of these heroes—black and white, young and old, male and female—the entire family was rescued.
RELATED: Couple offers lesson in hope and love at busy airport
Not everyone gets a chance to save human lives in such a dramatic way, but we can all rescue people around us in small ways.
The other day, I saw a very old lady in the grocery store, who was struggling to unload her items. I offered to do that for her, and she was grateful for this small moment of kindness.
In his book, “Don’t Waste Your Life,” John Piper said, “All heroes are shadows of Christ.”
That makes sense, since Christ stopped to take care of strangers, whether they were lepers, blind people or paralytics. He noticed the people of the world who were overlooked.
He related the story of the Good Samaritan—and how many people passed by the man, who’d been left on the roadside to die.
I’m guessing they either were in a hurry, didn’t want to get involved or feared they might be in danger.
Fortunately, one person stopped and did the right thing, and his action has become an emblem of compassion for millions of people since then.
Some heroic acts—like the rescue in Texas—make the nightly news, while others go unnoticed.
But every compassionate act answers the question about God’s whereabouts. You see, the Lord is in our hearts—and he’s the one who inspires us to heroism.
So in a mysterious way, he was the one who dialed 911, the one who pried open the car door, the one who performed CPR—and the one who prayed. It seems that God is the ultimate Good Samaritan.
—-
Lorraine is the author of eight books, most recently “Death Dons a Mask,” a cozy church mystery. Her email is lorrainevmurray@yahoo.com
About the Author
