Life's Challenges - Stories - Caring
| Courageous Response! | ||||
Courageous Response!
On a summer morning as he was fixing his breakfast, Ray Blankenship looked out
his window to see a young girl being swept along in the rain-flooded drainage
ditch beside his Ohio home. Blankenship knew that farther downstream, the ditch
disappeared with a roar underneath the road and then emptied into the main
culvert.
Ray dashed from his home and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the
flailing child. Finally, he hurled himself into the deep, churning water. When
he surfaced, he was able to grab the girl's arm. The two tumbled end over end
and then, within about three feet of the yawning culvert, Ray's free hand felt
something protrude from the bank. He clung to it desperately, the tremendous
force of the water trying to tear him and the child away.
By the time fire-department rescuers arrived, Blankenship amazingly had pulled
the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock. In that heroic moment, Ray
Blankenship was at even greater risk than most people knew . . . since . . . Ray
couldn't swim.
Today, let your courage respond to needs that you see, not to the fear you may
feel.
"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:7 NIV)
Author Unknown