Sunny walk, dark path--would we have rescued this boy?

An autistic teenaged boy sank in a pond last Saturday at a dog-walking park. He walked through some brush and between bushes, and next thing his mother knew, he had run out into a pond and was sinking, over his head.

The mother screamed and my friend's husband shed his jacket and ran in after him. The boy, who cannot talk, reached for him. The man pulled him out and carried the 120-pounder to shore.

The grateful, distraught mother said she had tried to teach her son to swim, but the teenager couldn't even learn to blow bubbles.

It could have been so tragic but for the selflessness of the man. They called him a hero but he doesn't accept that. He says anyone else would have done the same thing.

Maybe, maybe not. I hope I would have. But we don't know until we're there.

Every day, don't we see people headed for danger, and say nothing?

I know I do. Sometimes the Holy Spirit says that this isn't the right time or place. That they wouldn't receive it right now. I think I'm hearing that, anyway. Sure makes it easier to say nothing.

But the Bible says, "Now is the day of salvation."

And in Ezekiel 3 it says to warn His people even when they won't listen.

Some may reject us. Some may reach for us. But we won't know until we try.

My heroine's mother-in-law was like this man, ready to plunge in and rescue people. She plunged into conversation with the man who loved the heroine, challenging him to explore his faith further.

He did. All the way to Israel. A whole new world opened up to him and he found more than he sought--including the Six-Day War. Trained as a US Air Force pilot, he flew and fought for Israel after someone dear to him was shot. Eventually, he returned home much richer in spirit, with more to give the heroine--and her mother-in-law.

And then the fun began.