Word of Encouragement

It’s been quite the week, hasn’t it.

On the foreign front, things are not good and now, with the Delta variant continuing to unfold and cities reinstituting mask mandates, things are a bit sketchy. And that is why one of my associates told me: “Mike, let’s put the spotlight on good stuff – stuff like people jumping into the tank, literally, to serve others."

During a kids birthday party at the Scales and Tails store in Utah, things went awry when the alligator handler, Lindsay Bull, went to feed Darth Gator, an 8 ½ foot alligator. Instead of grabbing the food, Darth grabbed Lindsay’s arm and pulled her into the water.

As Darth was thrashing in the water, one of the guests, Donnie Wiseman, jumped into the pool and decided to help. Now wrestling with an alligator wouldn’t be on my Top 10 Wish List and I don’t think it would have been on Donnie’s list either, but when duty called, he answered the bell.

As Shane Richins, the owner of Scales and Tails noted, “Donnie jumped in of his own volition and showed uncommon courage.” But Donnie also wanted to give thanks to Lindsay. Though severely injured, she stuck by the pool so she could coach Donnie on how to get safely out to the pool.

Watching this video I was reminded of Lenny Skutnik a person who was recognized during Ronald Reagan’s State of the Union address in 1982. Lenny exhibited uncommon heroism when he dove into the icy waters of the Potomac River on January 13th, 1982, to rescue Priscilla Tirado, a passenger who was clinging to life after Air Florida Flight 90, which had crashed into the ice-covered waters of the Potomac River. During an interview, Lenny treated it like “this is what anybody would do.” But there were lots of other people standing close to Lenny and they just watched. Lenny took the plunge.

We want to salute those people who are also “taking the plunge.” Fortunately, even in this wacky world, there are still plenty of those types of people. I am thankful for front line folks in the health care, critical care or law enforcement areas, or behind the scene folks like truck drivers, or other folks who keep our economy rolling. And I am also thankful for all of my friends in various ministries who continue to roll up their sleeves and serve others.

The list goes on and on, but hopefully you get the picture. Despite all the turbulence in the world, I am thankful and encouraged by the fact that we still have lots of people who are willing to take the plunge and help make this a better world.

Those people who are willing to take the plunge into the pool exemplify the words from Philippians: “Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others.”