Timing

When amateur drone pilot Josh Logue launched a routine flight, he expected to find unusually high stream waters from an unexpectedly heavy rainfall. What he found, however, surprised and alarmed him. The image on the controller screen showed what he thought was a large shadow on the road.

Josh said, “I zoomed in on it. Oh, it’s a car and a giant hole down here!” Immediately, he recruited his dad and a neighbor, a firefighter with the Denver Fire Department, to try to help. Once there, they found a Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV, upside-down in a large sinkhole, with rapidly rising waters rushing around it. And to their further surprise, they found two people inside, who’d been there for fifteen minutes. If the water rose another six inches, the vehicle would be completely submerged. After dialing 911 for help, they got to work.

Ryan Nuanes was the neighbor who accompanied Josh and his dad. He began communicating with the couple trapped inside, trying to ascertain how much air was still in the vehicle. Meanwhile Josh’s dad left to find chains for his pickup truck, which they would eventually use to help pull the Jeep on its side so that first responders could rescue its occupants. Ryan said “I’ve been a Denver firefighter for 25 years. And it was the most dire situation that I had seen.”

Within ten minutes, responders from the local fire, sheriff, and state patrol were on the scene, and they all collaborated with the rescue effort. Once rescued, the man and woman inside the Jeep were transported to the hospital for further treatment.

Josh still has ambitions of becoming a professional drone pilot. Before this incident, he wasn’t sure how to make such a transition. But now he certainly has something valuable to point towards. He said, “It’ll be a story that I’ll tell.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Each of us has the capacity to act as a “Good Samaritan” to others. God uses those who make themselves available for service at critical moments of need.

A 71-year-old Swedish man was in his driveway shoveling snow in the Swedish city of Trollhättan, when he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. Normally, you have about ten minutes to get help in such a situation and ambulance response times are often too long to save the life of the patient. Typically, only ten percent of people survive sudden cardiac arrest.

Luckily, a telephone call was immediately placed requesting emergency services and the man lived in a region that had partnered with Everdrone’s innovative life-saving program. Everdrones deliver an automated external defibrillator (AED) to the scene. The amount of time from the alarm until the AED was safely delivered at the doorstep of the incident address was just over three minutes.

Even more fortuitous, a doctor happened to be driving by and stopped to see if he could help. Dr. Mustafa Ali said, “I was on my way to work at the local hospital when I looked out the car window and saw a man collapsed in his driveway and I immediately rushed to help. The man had no pulse, so I started doing CPR while asking another bystander to call the Swedish emergency number. Just minutes later, I saw something flying above my head. It was a drone with a defibrillator!”

After the initial treatment on site, the ambulance arrived, the patient was rushed to the hospital. “This is a truly revolutionary technology that needs to be implemented all over,” said the patient who now has made a full recovery and returned home. “If it wasn’t for the drone I probably wouldn’t be here.”

The company behind the drone pilot project says it’s the first time in medical history that a drone has played a crucial part in saving a life during a cardiac arrest. The drone carries an ultralight defibrillator, which can be used by any bystander.

Possible Preaching Angles:

1) Good Samaritan; Social Action – We should always be ready to speed help to others in time of need; 2) Action; Help from God; Prayer, answered – When God decides to take action, he moves faster than we can imagine, help is immediate (Isa. 65:24).

The next time LeQuedra Edwards unexpectedly bumps into someone, she might expect more than just an awkward situation. Because her last unexpected bump resulted in some very good fortune. Edwards was in a convenience store when she spent $40 on a lottery vending machine. However, when she went to make her selection, a rude patron bumped into her, causing her to push an unintended number on the machine. Edwards said, “He just bumped into me, didn't say a thing and just walked out the door.”

Instead of spending money on several lower-priced tickets as usual, she ended up spending most of her money on a $30 Scratchers ticket. But her irritation quickly faded after she went to the car, scratched off the numbers on her ticket, and realized that she’d won the grand prize of $10 million.

She said, "I didn't really believe it at first, but I got on the freeway and kept looking down at (the ticket) and I almost crashed my car. I pulled over, looked at it again and again, scanned it with my app and I just kept thinking, 'This can't be right.'"

According to the news release, Edwards plans to use her winnings to buy a house and launch a nonprofit organization.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Even our accidents can be redeemed by God for our good.

Dayvon Johnson probably didn’t wake up feeling like a hero. But few would argue that two sets of actions he took that day were anything less than heroic. The sixth grader at Muskogee’s Academy was hailed as a life-saver when a classmate began choking on the cap from a water bottle and stumbled into his classroom. The quick-thinking Johnson moved with alacrity. He performed a quick Heimlich maneuver and the bottle cap popped out of the student’s no-longer-blocked airway. When interviewed by the local newspaper, the eleven-year-old Dayvon said he learned the maneuver on YouTube.

But the life-saving didn’t stop there. Later that same day, Dayvon was walking in his neighborhood and noticed a house that was on fire. He saw an elderly woman trying to escape through her front door. Though the fire was only in the rear of the house, he didn’t want to wait. “I thought ‘oh, she’s not moving fast enough.’ So, I ran across the street and helped her to her truck.”

For his efforts, Dayvon was honored during a local meeting of the Muskogee School Board. School principal Latricia Dawkins said, “He is a dual hero. He is just a kind soul and well-liked by his peers and staff alike.” Also, the local police department proclaimed him as an honorary member of the force.

Dayvon’s mother LaToya Johnson said she was not surprised that her son stepped up the way that he did. She noted that her role-model brother--Dayvon’s uncle--is an EMT (emergency medical technician). However, she’s content to thrive in her own sacred role. “I’m just a proud mom.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

All of us are given opportunities to help others within our vicinity. Our job is to be ready to serve when called upon.

In what may be one of the most Italian things that has ever happened, the Italian State Police rushed a donor kidney from Padua to Rome for a transplant in a Lamborghini Huracan. The journey is around 300 miles, but with the help of a specially-outfitted supercar, the police made it happen in just about two hours at an average speed of 143 mph—and that’s a journey that normally takes around six.

Yes, the Italian Police own a Lamborghini and use it as a regular ol’ patrol vehicle most of the time. It’s outfitted with lights, a police computer, and other equipment for traffic stops and arrests. That said, though, the machine isn’t exactly ideal for the day-to-day (where, exactly, do you intend to put someone that you’ve arrested?). It’s still cool for these more extreme circumstances, though.

But for this specific instance, the “frunk” (front trunk) came in handy. The police force turned it into a refrigerated compartment for organ transport for the delivery of other temperature-sensitive medical supplies. With a 202-mph top speed and a 0-60 time of 2.8 seconds, it’s one efficient vehicle for these high-speed runs.

The Italian police actually own a few different Lambos. It’s a pretty solid use of a supercar, although folks on Twitter have wondered why Italian officials didn’t use a helicopter to transport the kidney. A Google Maps view of the starting hospital, doesn’t seem to show a helipad or an easily accessible flat area nearby, so a Lamborghini likely made the most sense here.

I hope the receiver of the kidney knows how it was transported. I know that, personally, I’d work to make sure that kidney is well-appreciated for as long as it lasts.

Possible Preaching Angles:

1) Good Samaritan; Social Action – We should always be ready to speed help to others in time of need; 2) Action; Help from God; Prayer, answered – When God decides to take action, he moves faster than we can imagine, help is immediate (Isa. 65:24).

Sometimes the things that seem inconsequential can end up making a huge difference. When Eyal and Sara Nir moved into the Champlain Towers South with two of their six children, they had a choice between a penthouse unit and one on the first floor. Sara liked the first-floor unit better, so that’s the one they picked. Because of that one choice, along with several other routine choices, the family narrowly avoided death.

That’s because during the early morning hours of June 24 the Champlain Towers South suffered a devastating building collapse, killing at least 97 people. Eyal was out of town, but Sara and her children Gabe and Chani were home, and happened to be awake. Regular night owl Gabe had just returned from the gym, and noted that the whole family was out of their regular routine. Gabe said, "For some reason, we all were doing things later than usual. And my mom decided to stay later at her event, my sister decided to come back home late [from babysitting].”

It was nearly 1am when all three of them made it home and Gabe heard what sounded like construction noises, unusual for the middle of the night. This prompted their mom to talk to a security guard. Gabe said, "As soon as she goes down to the front, I hear this loud rumble. Like, you feel like an earthquake is happening right in front of you,”

As he and his mother and sister ran from the scene, Gabe dialed 911 and began describing the scene as the ground opened up and started swallowing everything whole. Gabe feels a sense of gratitude for their survival. “There's got to be a reason we came back later. And I feel like fate really — God really came and saved us.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Even in times of calamity and disaster God is still present and can still protect us. It doesn't mean we're automatically insulated from any negative experience, but it does mean that we never walk alone, and God's power is present in us to endure whatever we face.

On May 25, 1979, Denis Waitley was desperately trying to catch a flight from Chicago to Los Angeles. When he arrived at his gate, they had just closed the jetway. Denis begged them to let him on that airplane. No luck! Out of breath and out of patience, he made his way to the ticket counter to register a complaint and rebook his travel. While he was waiting in line, an announcement came over the airport intercom. AA Flight 191 to Los Angeles had crashed upon takeoff.

The engine on the left wing of that DC-10 sepa­rated from the airplane right after takeoff. The unbalanced aerodynam­ics caused the plane to roll, a roll from which it could not recover. All 271 people on board died in the crash. It was the deadliest aviation accident in United States history.

That near-death experience had a life-altering impact on Denis Waitley. Had he been on time, it would have been the last day of his life. Needless to say, he never registered his complaint. In fact, he never re­turned his ticket for Flight 191. He took his paper ticket and put it in a visible place in his office. On difficult days, the days when he felt like throwing in the towel, all it took was one glance at that ticket to regain perspective. That ticket was a constant reminder that every day is a gift.

A vanilla shake is one of life’s simple pleasures, especially on a hot summer’s day. Did you know that vanilla traces its origin all the way back to a twelve-year-old slave boy living on a tiny island in the Indian Ocean? Vanilla is now the most popular spice in the world, but in 1841 the world produced fewer than two thousand vanilla beans, all in Mexico.

Up until the mid-19th century, vanilla orchids were pollinated exclusively by a particular genus of bee in Mexico. Over the years, as demand rose, attempts were made to industrialize the pollination process, to no avail. Vanilla was stubborn. All of this changed thanks to the ingenuity of that 12-year-old slave named Edmond Albius on a small island, 500 miles east of Madagascar. He was uneducated, yet he managed to solve one of the great botanical mysteries of the nineteenth century.

In 1822 a plantation owner on the island of Reunion was granted some vanilla plants from the French government. Only one of them survived, and nearly two decades later it still hadn't fruited. Without that bee pollinator, no one outside Mexico could get their plants to flower--that is, until Edmond worked his magic.

The owner was walking his plantation with Edmond in 1841 when he discovered, much to his surprise, that his vanilla vine had produced two beans! That’s when Edmond revealed, very matter-of-factly, that he had pollinated them by hand. The disbelieving plantation owner asked for a demonstration, so Edmond gently pinched the pollen-bearing anther and the pollen-receiving stigma between his thumb and index finger.

By 1858 Reunion was exporting two tons of vanilla. By 1867, it was up to twenty tons. And by 1898, it was two hundred tons. And it all traces back to a twelve-year-old boy named Edmond who hand pollinated a single vanilla vine. From that single vine, a billion-dollar industry was created.

Possible Preaching Angles: Hope; Insignificance; Persistence; Patience; Small things; – The least likely person can be used by God to bring about great changes if they use their gifts and opportunities regardless of their circumstances.

Nicole Hornback was attending the local high school homecoming parade when she noticed her two-year-old son Clarke was choking on a piece of candy. Hornback said, “I was sitting right next to him. I just happened to look over. There was no noise, no coughing, no breathing.” After trying and failing at the Heimlich maneuver, she called out in distress.

Meanwhile, cheerleader Tyra Winters, a senior at Rockwall High School, was waving to the crowd from a float. When she heard the call for help, she immediately leapt into action. Winters explained, “He was turning purple, so I immediately jumped off the float. I ran down to the kiddo, and I was like, ‘I got him.’ I grabbed him from the mom and tilted him and I gave a good three back thrusts and he ended up spitting up.”

“She saved my baby,” said Hornback. “I commend her for being a teenager and being trained.”

Possible Preaching Angle: Anyone can become God's vessel of healing and deliverance; all it takes is being willing to see the need and act accordingly to the Spirit's leading.

A half-century ago, America's dreams were realized in space. The power of US innovation and spirit took the Apollo 11 crew to the moon and back. That mission was possible because of a diverse team of engineers, astronauts, and mathematicians. It was also possible thanks to the help of one 10-year-old boy who was in the right place at the right time.

In 1969, Greg Force lived in Guam with his father, Charles Force. Charles worked as the director of a NASA tracking station that helped connect the capsule with NASA Mission Control for voice communication. After Apollo 11 began its departure from the moon, a problem arose. A bearing had broken in the dish antenna needed to track the ship. Without it, NASA risked losing the ability to communicate with the capsule as it approached Earth.

Scrambling to find a solution, Charles called home, hoping that Greg's child-size dimensions could be of assistance. He asked Greg to come to the tracking station and squeeze his arm through the antenna's access hole and pack grease around the bearing. The 10-year-old rose to the challenge and scampered up the ladder. Greg said, “I would take a big handful of grease—you know, you squish it. It comes out between your fingers, and I stuck them down in there and packed them the best I could.”

Greg succeeded, and a NASA public affairs officer noted his contribution in an announcement: “The bearing was replaced with the assistance of a 10-year-old boy named Greg Force who had arms small enough that he could work through a 2.5 inch diameter hole to pack [the bearing].”

The Apollo 11 moon landing succeeded with the help of a 10-year-old boy and the rest is history.

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.

An unplanned trip to Taco Bell on the day of the Columbine shooting may have saved the life of Amanda Meyer, good friend of martyr Cassie Bernall.

On any other school day right after lunch, Amanda probably would have been sitting with Cassie in the school library, where most of the Columbine killings took place.

But not on April 20, 1999. Here's the amazing story:

Amanda had been waiting to meet some friends in the cafeteria. "But they never showed up, which was strange," she says.

A girl Amanda knew from work asked if she wanted to go out for lunch.

"She wasn't really even a friend," Amanda says, "I thought, I shouldn't go because I'm supposed to meet friends, but instead I said, 'Sure, why not?' Then I thought, I've got to be back in time to meet Cassie in the library to study, but I didn't even say anything."

I went to Taco Bell. "I spilled taco sauce on my white T-shirt," says Amanda. "I thought, No big deal. I'll just wear my coat and no one will see the stain. But what I said was, 'Could we stop at my house so I can get a clean shirt?'"

By the time they got back to school, the shooting was taking place. Students were running from the building. People were shouting and screaming. "Something was obviously wrong," says Amanda, "but I didn't know what."

That was the only day last year Amanda left school for lunch.

Amanda's mom believes God spared her life. Says Amanda, "I feel like all of this is preparation for something."

The story is told of a farmer in a Midwestern state who had a strong disdain for "religious" things. As he plowed his field on Sunday morning, he would shake his fist at the church people who passed by on their way to worship.

October came and the farmer had his finest crop ever--the best in the entire county. When the harvest was complete, he placed an advertisement in the local paper which belittled the Christians for their faith in God. Near the end of his diatribe he wrote, "Faith in God must not mean much if someone like me can prosper."

The response from the Christians in the community was quiet and polite. In the next edition of the town paper, a small ad appeared. ... It read simply, "God doesn't always settle His accounts in October."