"Scutniks"

By David Sargent

     One of the worst snowstorms to hit Washington, D.C. in decades buffeted the city on January 13, 1982.  Storm conditions delayed the departure of Air Florida Flight 90 by an hour and forty-five minutes.  When the Boeing 737 took off from Washington National Airport, it was unable to stay aloft and crashed into the 14th Street Bridge, which spans the Potomac River, just two minutes after leaving the runway.  The plane vanished into the river except for the tail section, which had separated from the body of the aircraft and floated.  When emergency services arrived, they discovered 5 passengers and one flight attendant had survived the crash, and they were clinging to the tail section in the icy waters.
     The waters of the Potomac were extremely cold, just one degree above freezing. 
A person can only manage to stay alive in this frigid water for about 30 minutes.  Rescuers were frantically trying to get to the surviving passengers as quickly as possible.  When their inflatable boats could not navigate through the ice-filled waters,
a U.S. Park Police Helicopter Unit was called.  Many onlookers, including a television news camera man, witnessed the amazing rescue efforts of pilot Don Usher and paramedic Gene Windsor.
     After successfully retrieving a passenger (Bert Hamilton) and the flight attendant (Kelly Duncan), Usher and Windsor went back and lowered two lifelines from the helicopter to the remaining surviving passengers.  One of the passengers, Arland D. Williams, Jr., caught one of the lines and passed it on to Joe Stiley, the most severely injured survivor.  Stiley slipped the line around his waist and grabbed Priscilla Tirado, who was hysterical, having lost her husband and baby.  Nikki Felch took the second line.  As they were being dragged to shore, Tirado and Felch lost their grip and fell back into the water.  Felch was wearing a lifejacket, so Tirado became the immediate priority of the rescue efforts.

     Tirado was slashing in the icy water, eyes wide and wild-looking; she was going into shock.  After several attempts, she was unable to cling to the life-ring that was lowered to her.  By this time, she was traumatized, exhausted, and temporarily blinded from aviation fuel.  She began to drown.
     Martin “Lennie” Scutnik, a low-level manager at the U.S. Congressional Budget office, was observing the situation.  At this point, he decided that he could watch no more. 
“I absolutely thought she was going to die if I didn’t go in and get her.”  Scutnik removed his coat and boots and jumped into the icy waters, swam out to Tirado, and dragged her to safety.
     Nikki Felch was rescued by the helicopter unit.  Unfortunately, when the unit went back to rescue Arland D. Williams, he could not be found.  He, along with the tail of the jet, had sunk beneath the waters.  (See A Heroic Sacrifice, Living Water, 9/15/06).
     Less than a month later, President Ronald Reagan invited Lennie Scutnik to attend the 1982 State of the Union Address, where he was seated next to the First Lady.  When President Reagan recognized Scutnik, he received a long standing ovation.  Heroes like Scutnik are now celebrated at nearly every State of the Union Address.  The Washington Press Corps often refers to them as ‘Scutniks’.
     The selflessness and sacrifice of the “Scutniks” provide a glimpse of the Greatest Hero of all: JESUS CHRIST.
     When WE were “drowning” in sin and doomed to eternal destruction, God sent His Son Jesus to rescue us.  Jesus gave His life so that we might have forgiveness of our sins and so that we “should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16; Ephesians 1:7).
     Jesus will save those who cling to the Lifeline (Jesus Himself) by.... placing their faith and trust in Him (Acts 16:30-31), turning from their sins in repentance
(Acts 17:30-31), confessing Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He will continue to cleanse those who continue to trust Him and follow Him as a way of life (1 John 1:7).
     Won’t YOU cling to the Lifeline through your trusting obedience?

* Information gleaned from http://listverse.com/2010/10/09/top-10-real-life-good-samaritans/ and www.wikipedia.com.

- David A. Sargent, minister for the Church of Christ at Creekwood in Mobile, Alabama, is also the editor of an electronic devotional entitled Living Water."  To learn more about this excellent resource contact David via their website: http://www.creekwoodcc.org

A Refuge from the Storm

By David Sargent

     Some students recall hearing the principal of Plaza Towers Elementary School telling them over the intercom to go to the cafeteria and wait for their parents.  But then the tornado alarm sounded and selfless teachers of this school in Moore, Oklahoma, frantically tried to secure their students’ safety.  The tornado struck the school.  Seven students were killed.  But many were saved due to the heroic efforts of their teachers.
     Rhonda Crosswhite, a sixth grade teacher at Plaza Towers, and several students, sought refuge from the twister in a school bathroom.  As the tornado tore through the building, she shielded three of her students with her own body.
     “It just started coming down so I just laid on top of some of them,” she said on NBC’s Today show.
     One of the students Crosswhite shielded, fourth-grader Damian Britton, said the tornado “sounded like a train coming by.”
     “A teacher covered us — Ms. Crosswhite,” Damian said on the show. “I told her we were fine because we were holding onto something. Then she went over to my friend Antonio and covered him. So she saved our lives.”
     “The whole time I just kept screaming to them, ‘Quit worrying, we’re fine, we’re fine,” she told the Today show hosts, adding that she was unsure if her attempts at reassurance could be heard over the twister.  Yet she kept reassuring them.  “We’re going to be fine, I’m protecting you,” Crosswhite recalled telling the students. “Then I said a few prayers: ‘God, please take care of my kids’ — and we’re fine.”
     The students shielded by Crosswhite were relatively unscathed. One student had a cut on his head. Crosswhite had cuts all over her back and feet — she was wearing sandals.
     Damian’s mom, Brandi Kline, said her home was destroyed — but she was grateful her family was okay.  “Everyone around us lost everything,” the 29-year-old mom said, referring to her devastated neighborhood.  “But we have our kids,” she added, tearfully thanking Crosswhite.
     Thankfully, we also have Someone to shield us from the deadly destruction of sin...
     As sin wrought havoc in the lives of all mankind, God, because of His great love for us, sent Jesus to our rescue.  He "shielded" us from the deadly blows of sin with His own body as He died on the cross for our sins.  “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).  He died for us so that we might have forgiveness of our sins and receive the GIFT of eternal life (Eph 1:7; 1 Thess. 5:10).
     Jesus will save those who seek refuge in Him by: placing their faith and trust in Him (Acts 16:30-31), turning from sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confessing Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He will continue to shield  THOSE who continue to trust Him enough to follow Him (1 John 1:7).
     Many children are thankful for the heroic efforts of teachers like Rhonda Crosswhite who risked their lives to shield them from the storm.
     And ALL of us can be thankful that Jesus gave Himself for us to shield us from the eternal destruction of sin!
     By His wounds, YOU can be healed IF you will trust and obey Him.
     Won’t YOU?

* Information gleaned for “Oklahoma teachers hailed as heroes for selfless acts that saved kids” by Edgar Sandoval, Corky Siemaszko, and Stephen Rex Brown in the New York Daily News (5/21/13)

- David A. Sargent, minister for the Church of Christ at Creekwood in Mobile, Alabama, is also the editor of an electronic devotional entitled Living Water."  To learn more about this excellent resource contact David via their website: http://www.creekwoodcc.org

Some Good Cheap Perfume

Years ago when times were harder and money a little scarcer I decided to get my young wife some perfume. I walked into a nice store and told the lady I wanted some real good cheap perfume. She looked at me with contempt or pity, I could not tell which, and said, "There is no such thing." I think I ended up buying her a nice iron. Who needs that old perfume anyway?

But isn't this what a lot of folks are looking for today in religion?

Source:
Pulpit Helps, August 1992, p. 14.