I John 3:18 “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
James 1:22 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
There was another hero in the midst of the Air Florida 90 crash in January 1982 (see previous two posts for other thoughts on this event). Priscilla Tirado, a surviving passenger of the crash, was too weak to hold on to the helicopter line passed to her by Arland D. Williams. Her eyes had been blinded by jet fuel that had accumulated on the surface of the water, and the cold water and crash trauma had zapped her strength. She was stranded in the midst of a large patch of open water, and couldn’t hold on to any of the life saving devices that had been sent her way.
It was then that Lenny Skutnik jumped in to the icy cold water. Skutnik was a Congressional Budget Office employee on his way home from work that afternoon. Among the hundreds of onlookers, he was the only one who left the safety of the river bank to save a life. As a result, Priscilla Tirado was one of a few who survived this tragedy, and Skutnik was invited as a special guest of President Reagan to the January 26, 1982 State of the Union address. All because he jumped in!
There are situations throughout our society where Christians need to jump in, acting as doers in deed and in truth. How is our witness? How is our community engagement? How is our voting record? How is our commitment to our prayer list? How is our political participation? How is our voice on the issues of the day?
Are we just standing on the safety of the river bank with the rest of the onlookers, or are we jumping in?
PLEASE PRAY FOR THE COURAGE AND COMMITMENT TO FULLY ENGAGE ON THE URGENT ISSUES OF THE DAY. Lives can be saved, eternities altered, policies shifted, communities renewed, and societies revived if we take the simple act of faithfulness and jump in!
