John 15:13
Who Cares About the Bear!
Two hikers were walking through the woods when they suddenly confronted a giant bear. Immediately, one of the men took off his boots, pulled out a pair of track shoes and began putting them on. “What are you doing?” cried his companion. “We can’t outrun that bear, even with jogging shoes.”
“Who cares about the bear?” the first hiker replied. “All I have to worry about is outrunning you.”
The Transfusion
There was an orphanage near an American Marine Base in Viet Nam. One day the Viet Cong fired mortar shells into the orphanage, killing dozens of children and wounding many more. A boy named Kai had a seriously wounded friend who needed a blood transfusion. Kai’s friend had a rare blood type and only Kai’s blood matched it. Little Kai had never heard of a blood transfusion but when the American doctors explained it would save his friend’s life, little Kai volunteered.
As the blood began to flow from Kai to his friend, Kai began to whimper. When the doctors asked if it hurt, he said no. A little later he whimpered again. Again he told the doctors it did not hurt. The doctors asked, “What’s wrong, Kai?” With tears coursing down his light brown, dusty cheeks, Kai asked, “When am I to die, sir, when am I to die?” You see, little Kai didn’t know that you only give a little blood. He thought you gave it all, and he was willing to do so for his little friend.
A Young Hero
Jean, Nev. - A 13-year-old boy endured flames licking up his back as he passed his two little brothers out a window of their burning home, then managed to escape himself.
“He stood there and handed me them babies out while he was cooking,” Jimmy Holsclaw said Saturday of his son, Jimmy. “He never looked up or hesitated a minute, he did just what he was supposed to do.”
Jimmy was in critical condition Saturday in a hospital burn unit in nearby Las Vegas, suffering from second and third degree burns over almost half his body and severe smoke inhalation.
His efforts early Friday saved the lives of his 3-year-old and 4-year-old brothers after the boys were trapped in a bedroom of their burning mobile home.
A True Friend
A story is told by a train engineer. He was approaching a trestle and saw two young girls walking over it. They heard the train approaching and tried to run to safety, but one girl’s foot caught between the ties. They tried and tried to free it, but it was no use. Finally the one commanded her friend, “Run to safety and save yourself.” She did, but immediately turned and ran back to try to release her friend. It seemed hopeless. She again ran to safety, but again returned to her friend. This happened three times, as the train came closer and closer. Finally the train struck the two girls who were locked in an embrace, and together they fell into the river below.
The Widower
William Dixon was a widower who had also lost his only son. One day he saw a neighbor’s house on fire; although the aged owner was rescued, her grandson was trapped upstairs in the blaze. Dixon didn’t hesitate. Climbing an iron pipe on the side of the house, Dixon lowered the boy to safety, badly burning his own hands on the overheated pipe. Shortly after the fire, the boy’s grandmother died, leaving him alone. As the town council considered what to do, two men appeared requesting custody of the boy. One was a father who had lost his son and wanted to adopt the orphan as his own. The other was Dixon. The first man gave his reasons for wanting to adopt the boy, then Dixon stood before the council and simply held up his badly scarred hands. When the vote was taken, the boy went to him.
He Couldn’t Swim
One summer morning as Ray Blankenship was preparing his breakfast, he gazed out the window, and saw a small girl being swept along in the rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his Andover, Ohio, home. Blankenship knew that farther downstream, the ditch disappeared with a roar underneath a road and then emptied into the main culvert. Ray dashed out the door and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the foundering child. Then he hurled himself into the deep, churning water.
Blankenship surfaced and was able to grab the child’s arm. They tumbled end over end. Within about three feet of the yawning culvert, Ray’s free hand felt something—possibly a rock—protruding from one bank. He clung desperately, but the tremendous force of the water tried to tear him and the child away. “If I can just hang on until help comes,” he thought. He did better than that. By the time fire-department rescuers arrived, Blankenship had pulled the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock.
On April 12, 1989, Ray Blankenship was awarded the Coast Guard’s Silver Lifesaving Medal. The award is fitting, for this selfless person was at even greater risk to himself than most people knew. Ray Blankenship can’t swim.