Heroes

The story appeared in the Houston Chronicle one weekend. The headline said “Memo To A Stranger."

“Mrs. Roy Alvarez didn’t have a chance to thank you," the article began. “Of course, being a father of seven (she did recall hearing you mention that) you understand. You know the paralyzing terror that can grip a parent when they see one of their children dying. And Mrs. Alvarez saw her son, Roy Jr., age 10, being swept to his death by a vicious riptide at Rollover Pass near Gilchrist Thursday.

The boy had walked out into the surf and was doomed. He could not swim. A teenaged boy ran out and grabbed Roy, trying to hold his head above water, but the young man himself was in danger of drowning. Then you sped into the surf, fully clothed. You took Roy from the other fellow who, exhausted, made his way back to shore. You held on to Roy while the riptide rolled you both under and into jagged rocks under the water. Then you brought him back to his hysterical mother on shore - who brought him back home to Houston.

Mrs. Alvarez was calmer on Friday. She called the Chronicle and told them the story. She said that you were hurt, but that she didn’t even get your name.

"Will you please," she asked, "tell him how grateful we are? Will you thank him for us? The last we saw of him, he was limping along the beach, trailing blood.”

I couldn't read this story without seeing a picture of another man limping along trailing blood. But this man was not walking along a beach in sunny south Texas. He was struggling up a dusty road outside Jerusalem carrying a rough and heavy cross. The blood he shed did not save just one young boy from drowning in water, but it dragged all of mankind out of the riptide of sin. All of us who were hopelessly being tugged into hell were freed by the selfless sacrifice of Jesus Christ who shed his blood for us.

We know His name. Let us be especially careful to express our gratitude to Him for all that His sacrifice has given us.

©2006 Doug Ellingsworth