Intervention

In a 2022 behavioral study, researchers explored the connection between anger and moral courage. While participants were supposedly waiting for the study to start, they overheard two experimenters plan, and then execute, the embezzlement of money from the project fund. (The embezzlement was staged.) The participants had various opportunities to intervene, including directly confronting the experimenters, involving a fellow participant, or reporting to a superior.

Depending on your perspective of the events of the last few years, you may or may not be surprised to learn that only 27% of participants intervened. (Other experiments confirm the natural human inclination towards passivity). Interestingly, researchers found that the more an individual reported feeling angry, the more likely they were to intervene, showing that anger can serve as an important catalyst for moral courage.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Often the anger of man does not achieve God’s purposes, but there is a place for “righteous anger” at what is wrong and evil.

The biggest concern for Dr. Steve Lome before starting the Monterey Bay Half Marathon along the California coast was being able to keep up with his teenage kids beside him. But the cardiologist would soon face a life-or-death situation around mile three of the 13.1 mile race.

Lome said, "Somebody right in front of me collapsed. I saw him go down and it was pretty clear to me that it was not just somebody who tripped and fell or somebody who fainted. It was a very sudden collapse."

The man on the ground was 67-year-old Gregory Gonzales, a Washington state Superior Court judge. Gonzales said he felt fine even in the moments right before. He'd trained for the race and was so at ease that day, his only worry was nabbing a good parking spot. Gonzales said, "I thought to myself, 'Oh my gosh, it's downhill for a little bit, great!' That's all I remember."

Lome says Gonzales hit his head on the pavement when he fell. Lome rushed over and started CPR with the help of a few passersby. Lome said, “The biggest concern is that, having no blood flow to the brain, you can get some permanent brain injury. That's what we want to avoid at all costs.” He estimates they were doing chest compressions for maybe six minutes when Gonzales was defibrillated and taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Once the ambulance left, Lome was a little rattled but decided to continue the race. He had lost about 15 minutes and could make some of it back, even if his kids were farther ahead by now. He got on his cellphone, alternating between running and walking, just to make sure the hospital where Gonzales was headed knew what had taken place at the scene. He says that can make a difference to a patient's care. He eventually made it past the finish line and threw his hands up in the air to celebrate the accomplishment.

Lome and Gonzales are keeping in touch and plan to race together at the same half-marathon next year. Gonzales said, “There's not a day that goes by that I don't have tears of joy. Absolute joy. I'm here with a second chance at this life.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

As believers running the race of life, we are surrounded by people experiencing spiritual life-threatening issues. Do we care enough to stop what we are doing and offer life-giving help from the scriptures to them?

Editor’s Note: In the full-length version of this event, Dr. Lome actually saved two runners who suffered cardiac events. The other happened at the end of the race after Dr. Lome had crossed the finish line.

Twelve-year-old Amelia Loverme hadn’t received any formalized training when she saw her twin brother Charlie in need of medical intervention. But she didn’t let that stop her from getting the job done.

Charlie said, “[I thought] I was going to die. It's just scary and you just don't know what's going to happen next and it's just really scary.” Amelia added, “It was just instinct, I didn't really know what to do, I just feel like I had to help him.”

And help him she did. The siblings were both in their lunch period at Leicester Middle School when Charlie began choking on a piece of mozzarella cheese. When other students in his immediate vicinity were too scared or confused to know what to do, Amelia leapt into action. Security footage caught her giving her brother a series of abdominal thrusts known as the Heimlich maneuver.

Jason Loverme, the twins’ father said, “Adults should talk to their kids about life-saving stuff like this. Whether you think it registers or not, they may tune it out but clearly something registered and she recalled it when she needed it.” Jason says a lack of training should never inhibit someone in the position of potentially giving life-saving help. “If you can help somebody and you can react regardless of if you're nervous or not, you should.”

For her quick thinking and heroism, Amelia was honored by the official school committee, and a public honor from a local law enforcement agency might be in the works.

Note: You can watch the video of Amelia saving her brother’s life here.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Anyone can become God's vessel of deliverance; all it takes is willingness to see the need and act accordingly to the Spirit's leading.

When Gustavo Alvarez lost his home in Los Angeles, there was a bitter irony that added insult to his travail. The fire that consumed his home started in a homeless encampment behind his home. Initially, insurance payments made it possible for Alvarez to move his family into an apartment while the home could be rebuilt. But the temporary housing benefits only lasted six months, which left Alvarez with nowhere near enough time or money to complete his home renovation.

Alvarez told The Los Angeles Times, “We are saving up to fix the house. But the $1,400 of rent for our temporary home has been an added expense. My wife is working at a clothing store to make up for some of it … You work day and night for years to build something and it is gone in a matter of hours.”

When Jessica Lawson read Alvarez’ newspaper story, she was moved to act. Lawson is a disaster recovery program manager for Habitat for Humanity in the greater LA area, so she reached out. Lawson said, “I knew we had the power to help. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could actually help the family?”

And help they did. Because of Lawson’s intervention, Habitat was able to offer Alvarez a loan with highly favorable terms that would help him finish his home. After reviewing damage estimates from a general contractor, the work was done quickly, enabling Alvarez to move back in a few months’ time.

Like many who have felt the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, 22-year-old university student Brooke Lacey had her own share of issues. After Lacey won her battle against depression, in the hope of helping others, the New Zealand native was inspired to create a batch of 600 signs that read: “Please don’t take your life today. The world is so much better with you in it. More than you realize, stay.”

Lacey hung laminated versions of the message on bridges and overpasses, and next to railroads and waterways around the capital city of Wellington. She even had the saying inscribed on a bumper sticker.

But the sentiment was the furthest thing from her mind when she found a piece of very unusual correspondence on the windshield of the car she’d parked in the university lot. Figuring she was in for a scold over poor parking technique, Lacey was instead stunned to find a handwritten note under the wiper blade that thanked her for saving the writer’s life.

The note read. “I left my house with a plan and asked for a sign, any sign, I was doing the right thing when I saw your car in the parking lot. Thank you.”

It took a moment for Lacey’s mind to circle back around to the bumper sticker. She tweeted, “I had these made so long ago, put one on my car and forgot about them, until now. I am so glad whoever you are chose to stay today. You never know who needs this reminder.”

It’s something we should all bear in mind. While the universe may be a random place, for someone in trouble, even the smallest mindful act of kindness can turn out to be the light at the end of the tunnel.

A brave woman may have saved hundreds of lives in India by waving her red sari to stop a train—after spotting broken tracks further down the line. Omvati Devi waved the flowing red garment in front of an approaching train after noticing part of the line was faulty. Spotting the woman, the driver was able to stop the train just in the nick of time, avoiding potential disaster.

Omvati’s quick-thinking benefitted between 150 to 200 passengers aboard the train in Uttar Pradesh, India. The woman, who’s been praised for her heroic actions, was quoted saying:

I was on my way to work and it was then when I stumbled to found a broken track. I was quick to realize that this could result in a massive tragedy. Well, I had heard a lot that red stands for danger. I used my sari to tie it around the track to thwart any untoward incident which luckily did work when the driver applied brakes.

The driver offered her 100 rupees, but she turned it down. “Then, he insisted that I keep the money, which I did.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

In the spiritual realm, Christians are called by God to wave a warning flag to rescue those who are perishing (Jude 1:23) before it is too late.

The New York Times ran a lengthy and sobering report on the mental health crisis among US teens. The article’s subtitle declared, “Depression, self-harm, and suicide are rising among American adolescents.” The article noted:

American adolescence is undergoing a drastic change. Three decades ago, the gravest public health threats to teenagers in the United States came from binge drinking, drunken driving, teenage pregnancy and smoking. These have since fallen sharply, replaced by a new public health concern: soaring rates of mental health disorders.

The decline in mental health among teenagers was intensified by the COVID pandemic but predated it, spanning racial and ethnic groups, urban and rural areas and the socioeconomic divide. In a rare public advisory, the US surgeon general warned of a “devastating” mental health crisis among adolescents. Numerous hospital and doctor groups have called it a national emergency.

An expert cited in the article concluded: “By many markers, kids are doing fantastic and thriving. But there are these really important trends in anxiety, depression, and suicide that stop us in our tracks. We need to figure it out. Because it’s life or death for these kids.”

Nadia Popovici kept shifting her eyes from the hockey game to the back of Brian Hamilton’s neck. Mr. Hamilton, an assistant equipment manager for the Vancouver Canucks, had a small mole there. It was irregularly shaped and red-brown in color — possible characteristics of skin cancer. Nadia had served at hospitals as a nursing assistant.

“I need to tell him,” Nadia told her parents at the NHL game in Seattle. So, she typed a message on her cell phone and waited for the game to end. After waving several times, she finally drew Mr. Hamilton’s attention, and placed her phone against the plexiglass. Her message read: “The mole on the back of your neck is possibly cancerous. Please go see a doctor!” with the words “mole,” “cancer” and “doctor” colored bright red.

Hamilton said he looked at the message, rubbed the back of his neck and kept walking, thinking, “Well, that’s weird.” Nadia said she regretted the message and thought at the time, “Maybe that was inappropriate of me to bring up.”

After the game, Hamilton talked to his doctor, had it removed, and had a biopsy. Nadia was correct. It was type-2 malignant melanoma, and she had just saved his life. Hamilton said, “She took me out of a slow fire, and the words out of the doctor’s mouth were if I ignored that for four to five years, I wouldn’t be here.”

Then Hamilton tried to find his “hero” by posting a message on the team’s Twitter that said: “To this woman I am trying to find, you changed my life, and now I want to find you to say THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! Problem is, I don’t know who you are or where you are from.” Three hours later they found Nadia. After Hamilton expressed his gratitude, the team gave her a sweet gift—a $10,000 scholarship to use for medical school expenses.

Nine months after SEAL Team Six took out the worlds most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, they completed another dramatic and secret mission: rescuing Jessica Buchanan, an American aid worker, from the hands of Somali pirates. In response to her plight, two dozen SEALS parachuted into southern Somalia, killed all nine heavily armed kidnappers, and liberated Buchanan, as well as a second aid worker—all without any American casualties.

The heroic acts in the final moments of this remarkable rescue reveals something of the culture and character of the Navy SEALs. Here are Jessica’s own words:

At one point … this group of men who’ve risked their lives for me already, asked me to lie down on the ground. Because they’re concerned there might be more armed terrors out there. They make a circle around me and then they lie down on top of me, to protect me. And we lie like that until the helicopters come in.

To the world, it was extraordinary. To the Navy SEALs, it was another day’s work. It’s what they do. Because it is who they have become.

Possible Preaching Angle:

This is a powerful reminder that we believers are to be as dedicated to one another and willing to “lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16).

Don Ritchie has lived beside a cliff used for suicidal jumps for 50 years. Every time someone approaches the cliff, he goes out to make sure they don’t take their life. Over the years, he has stopped at least 160 people from killing themselves. That’s just the official estimate. The real number is said to be 400 according to his family. (Don passed away on May 13, 2012).

Don happened to live near The Gap, an ocean cliff at Sydney. It is a popular visitor destination which has gained infamy as a suicide spot over the years. It is estimated that about 50 people end their lives there each year. As individuals walked up to the cliff, looking at the crashing waves below and wondering whether to jump, Don would approach them with a smile asking, “Why don’t you come and have a cup of tea?”

Accepting his offer, these people would be invited into his home where they would have a chat over tea. No counselling, no advising, no prying. Just one human being lending a listening ear to another. Some of these people had mental problems, some had medical illnesses, some are just people going through a rough patch in life. For many, a listening ear was apparently what they needed as they changed their minds about jumping after the chat, and turned back home.

Possible Preaching Angle:

The people we walk past in the street may be on the verge of throwing in the towel--giving up. As Christians, we should be situated on the edge of their “cliff” offering hope, love, and a listening ear. We should point to Jesus who says to them, “Come unto me and I will give you rest.”

Anthony Brown was driving across a bridge over Interstate 40 when he spotted a stranger in distress. Brown said, “My first thought was I needed to help him, because we are here to love and care for one another on this earth.” Having lost his brother to suicide, Brown knew he couldn’t ignore the suicidal stranger. Seeing that others were driving by without stopping, he quickly turned his car around, pulled over, and gently approached the man.

The distressed man initially claimed there was nothing Brown could do to help him. Yet when Brown opened up about his personal experience with suicide, the man listened. Brown said, “I let him know that I was not there to judge him and that I cared for him. I also told him about my brother that committed suicide. He was shocked that a stranger stopped and cared enough about his wellbeing.” As the pair talked, empathy blossomed. The distressed man opened up to Brown. Slowly but surely the man had retreated from the edge of the bridge and followed him back to his car.

Asheville police arrived on the scene to escort the distressed man to a hospital for medical support. Officer Garetto said, “Anthony tried to leave and not make a big deal of this, but I had to get his name, because I am confident without Anthony stopping and talking with the man, he may have possibly jumped before officers arrived on scene.”

Brown, who does not see himself as a hero, was recognized by the Asheville city council a few days after his kind act. He said, “I felt honored, maybe the story can help someone else that is struggling with depression and suicide. If I was to meet [the distressed man] again, I would tell him that it is not his time to die yet, that God has bigger plans for him.”

Forty-seven-year-old Anthony Oliveri was riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle down a busy street in Indiana when he was struck by another vehicle. Oliveri later recounted the incident, “I remember it happened and I didn’t quite know what was going on for a split second … as I looked back around my left shoulder, all I see is her tire and the left bumper getting ready to run my face over.”

Interestingly, both drivers attributed the crash to God's will. The driver of the automobile did not stop, but police located her a few miles from the accident. When she was asked to explain her actions, she had an interesting response, "God told me to let him take the wheel." Police summarized her statement: "She was driving and out of nowhere God told her that he would take it from here and she let go of the wheel and let him take it."

By contrast, Oliveri recounted: "I was inches from that bumper and I just said to myself today is the day I die. I just shut my eyes and said if this is the way that God wants to do it then I guess that this is the way we’re going to do it." Later, he attributed his survival to divine intervention.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Both statements exhibited a degree of trust. Notice the difference between their beliefs. One presumed on God’s power based solely on human desires or feelings. The other took what was known about God and his sovereignty, and gave him glory for whatever came next. One attempted to force God’s hand, the other recognized his involvement and said “Whatever you want here."

Author Anne Bokma left her fundamentalist Christian church in her 20s. She recently spent a full year investigating and experimenting with numerous forms of popular New Age spirituality, from yoga to witchcraft, magic mushrooms to death cafés.

Bokma recalls the time in her early 30s when she prayed really hard. She was eight months pregnant and in the hospital experiencing premature labor pains. A nurse waved the ultrasound wand over her belly and after many minutes of trying, could not detect a heartbeat. A doctor was called as Bokma and her husband started to panic. The doctor also could not find a heartbeat. Bokma immediately began “bargaining, begging and beseeching” God. She didn’t really believe in a supernatural entity who personally intervenes, “but this did not stop me from crying out for mercy in my hour of need.”

Bokma tells the rest of the story, showing that her prayer was never really sincere:

When all hope seems lost, praying means you’re at least doing something. After searching in vain for another couple of minutes, the doctor … picked up the cord attached to the ultrasound machine and dangled it in front of our eyes. It hadn’t been plugged in. Our baby was alive, though not because of divine intervention. This made me think about what Mark Twain must have meant when he said: “Under the circumstances, swearing seems more apt than prayer.” Some might have called this incident a miracle. We called her Ruby.

Cody Byrd was seated at Biscuitville, a local breakfast spot, preparing to eat before heading off to work. But he noticed something peculiar: an older man was staring intently at an 8-year-old girl, who was seated next to her mother. Byrd said, “He just kept staring at her. It gave me this weird feeling.”

The man, who police later identified as Timothy Fry, got up from his seat after the girl left to use the restroom. Byrd sensed something amiss, so he also got up and followed them both into the hallway adjacent to both restrooms. Byrd asked Fry if he was waiting to use the bathroom. “And when he said, ‘Oh no, you go ahead,’ … that’s when it kind of rang that something’s not right.”

Byrd ducked into the men’s bathroom, listening intently. When he heard the women’s restroom door open, he darted back out--and saw Fry trying to grab the girl. She ran back to her mother, while Fry quickly started clearing his table, preparing to leave.

Avoiding a potentially messy confrontation, Byrd instead got a photo of Fry and his vehicle, and reported the interaction to police. As a result, Fry was arrested and faces a litany of charges, including kidnapping.

Greensboro police spokesman Ron Glenn praised Byrd’s actions. “(He) stepped up and prevented a far worse incident from happening. He was willing to help out and was able to act quickly enough to … get this man apprehended.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Being a Christian means being ready to respond in obedience at all times. We honor God when we risk our own safety to defend the vulnerable.

Paige Winter was in high spirits and stable condition at Vidant Medical Center, despite having just had her leg and several fingers amputated. Winter survived a scary encounter with a shark, due in part to the intervention of her father Charlie, a Marine who was in the water with her at the time.

Family friend Brandon Bersch told NBC’s Today that Winter and her father "were standing in waist-deep water and chatting and then Paige suddenly got pulled under." Witnesses say that Charlie Winter punched the shark in the face five times before it released its grip on his daughter. Officials with the Atlantic Beach Fire Department confirmed the account, saying that she sustained “deep lacerations to her leg, pelvic and hand areas.”

Nevertheless, the traumatic experience didn’t take away Paige’s sense of humor. According to her mother’s Facebook post, Paige “wants everyone to know that sharks are still good people.”

In a statement on the GoFundMe page to assist with medical expenses, the Winter family thanked "the individuals on the beach who helped, and her heroic father who saved her life." Added Paige’s grandmother, "Thank God our son was with her."

Potential Preaching Angle: Sometimes God allows us to wrestle so that we can know what it's like to overcome, but even so, God's love and protection are still close by, ready to rescue us from calamity.

Local police are convinced that a driver owes his recent good fortune to divine intervention after a pigeon prevented the person from being cited for speeding. In this particular area of western Germany, offenders are typically identified by the speed cameras installed at traffic lights. But when police reviewed the photo of one particular offender, the driver’s face was obscured by the image of a spread-winged pigeon that happened to swoop in at just the right moment. Referencing Ascension Day on the church calendar, police were quoted as saying “the Holy Ghost must’ve had a plan.”

The driver was spared a fine of 105 euro (about $117) thanks to the pigeon that police referred to as “the feathered guardian angel.” Nonetheless, they hope the driver will take it “as a sign from above” to slow down on the roadway.

Potential Preaching Angles: Sometimes God provides at just the right moment in order to send an unmistakable message of hope. Sometimes an act of mercy is what we need to change our behavior.

Training as an athlete often means maintaining a heightened situational awareness. A group of middle school boys on the Kepler School volleyball team demonstrated that ability in spades; because of it, they helped to save a life.

Team members were jogging in downtown Fresno as part of their conditioning when one of them saw the figure of a person dangling from the Stanislaus Bridge. That person was a 47-year-old woman, who Fresno police later confirmed had intended to end her life.

When they saw her, the boys ran over to the bridge and launched an impassioned campaign to bring her safety. While the boys’ coach called 911 on his phone, they chanted and pleaded with her to hold on, telling her not to give up and that her life was worth it.

Police spokesman Mark Hudson said that after being questioned, the woman was considered a danger to herself, and was transported to a mental health facility for further observation. When asked about the boys’ intervention, Hudson called it “absolutely incredible.”

“These young men stepped up when no one else could,” said Timothy Yeager, Kepler School’s Director of Student Services. “Words fail to do justice to how incredibly proud we are of these Kepler scholars and Coach Elliot’s leadership.”

Potential Preaching Angles: When we’re empowered by the spirit, we don’t have to let things like our age or our qualifications get in the way of making a difference. All of us a precious in God’s sight and God is honored when we show compassion and mercy to those in dire need.

A teenager with a heart to help has received a commendation for her efforts, which local officials say have helped save at least six lives.

Paige Hunter has written more than 40 heartfelt notes of encouragement, attaching each of them to the railings of the Wearmouth Bridge in Northumbria, to provide a critical boost for those who might be in the midst of a mental health crisis. For her work, and the impact it's made, Hunter was recently issued an official commendation by Northumbria Police Force, signed and delivered by the local police chief.

"We thought it was important to applaud the work Paige has been doing and the help she has given those in Sunderland who are going through a mental health crisis," said Chief Superintendent Sarah Pitt.

"Paige has shown an incredible understanding of vulnerable people in need of support, and this is an innovative way to reach out to those in a dark place. For somebody so young, Paige has shown a real maturity and we thought it would only be right to thank her personally. She should be very proud of herself."

Despite the commendation, Hunter is keeping everything in stride. The sales associate and college student just wants the attention on people who need help. "It is important that we encourage people to speak out and raise awareness of mental health issues and the impact on peoples' lives."

Potential Preaching Angles: Everyone needs encouragement, and the positive impact you can make with a kind word can extend across generations.

Suicide has been in the news a lot lately. And unfortunately, many of us Christians don't know how to respond in a healthy way to issues of potential suicide or the aftermath of suicide. But in a CT interview, expert and author Karen Mason talks about the many powerful ways that a church can respond to issues of suicide.

She concludes: We in the community of faith offer prayer to the Great Physician for healing for our suicidal brothers and sisters. We stand firm with them because their hope is eroded, and we claim for them our faithful certainty in the God who is present, loving, and sovereign. We lament the brokenness of this world, and wait for God to redeem all suffering and create a new heaven and earth. In the meantime, we help people get treatment. Following a suicide, we offer a non-judgmental ministry of presence. We allow lament, 'Why, God?' We offer practical help like meals or visits or babysitting for the long haul. Whatever a community of faith does following other deaths, they ought to do following a suicide. And in that way, we take a hopeful step in preventing suicide by recognizing it and talking about it.

If you want a wonderful experience, take your New Testament and use a concordance to look up the two little words, "but God." See how many times human resources have been brought to an utter end; despair has gripped the heart and pessimism and gloom has settled upon a people; and there is nothing that can be done. Then see how the Spirit of God writes in luminous letters, "But God," and the whole situation changes into victory.