I learned yesterday about a horrible accident that occurred near where I grew up, involving two motorcycles and an RV trailer being hauled by a truck. The driver of one motor cycle was killed instantly, and it turns out that he was the estranged husband of an old church friend of mine. I had never met him, but his soon to be ex-wife and I had reconnected on facebook and I'd seen pictures of him, followed the announcement and pictures of the birth of their child a year ago, and things like that. So, I was shocked when I heard about his untimely death and have had my friend and her little one on my mind a lot ever since.
The other motor cycle driver was horribly injured but alive. My nephew, who is in his thirties, was driving by with his 12 year old son. He stopped and told his boy to stay in the car, then rushed closer to the scene. There was crowd of people gathering but no-one was helping the injured man although he was calling loudly for help. A fire had broken out and an explosion was imminent. My nephew ran into that scene, yelled at another man to "get the @#$%!& over here and help", and they dragged the man to safety. At some point a few other people got involved, too. The injured man had lost half of one leg and his arm was badly mangled, along with other injuries. My nephew made some kind of turnequit for his leg and kept him talking for ten minutes until help arrived. He is being hailed as a local hero.
My nephew hasn't always been looked upon as a hero. He's had many dark times and failures in his life, including time in prison. I just saw him a few weeks ago and was very impressed by his warm heart and the loving kindness I saw beneath his sometimes tough exterior. His son means everything to him. He has floundered and struggled and is trying to get on his feet financially, but things have looked very bleak for him. Amazingly, he has been looking into becoming a volunteer fireman and the man he rescued was a fireman, unbeknownst to him.
When I heard about what he'd done to rescue this man, I wasn't surprised at all. My nephew has been through fiery trials, and his heart has become gold in the furnace. I am teary even writing this. He is proof that God works in and through "the least of these". My nephew is my hero too, and God has used this story to speak to me about His heart of love. How many of us would rush into a scene of desperation and danger to rescue a mangled, blood splattered stranger? And that is what Love does, in every sense, every day -- Jesus isn't afraid of our mess, and he doesn't just leave us to die when we are calling out for help.
I realize people do die in awful situations, just as my friend's husband did in this same incident. Yet I know that God had a hold of him and didn't abandon him even as his body died. Something greater and deeper happened that we won't understand this side of heaven, but I know God brings good mysteriously out of every situation. Love was there with him, too.
