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A few news stories caught my eye this week, all with coincidences that defy an earthly explanation….
Right Place, Right Time Rescue
Kevin Pratt, a nursing student in Portland, Oregon, was cycling along the Willamette River when he felt the need to take a break. He got off his bike and looked out over the water. He noticed something odd: a man, fully clothed, swimming away from shore.
The man began to struggle. He went under once, twice. Kevin had seen enough. Dashing down to the waterfront, he stripped to his underwear, jumped in and swam out to rescue him. Bystanders got the entire rescue on camera.
The man wasn’t breathing when Kevin finally pulled him onto shore. But Kevin knew what to do. As it happened, he’d just learned an important lesson in nursing school: how to perform CPR.
“Thanks for all the virtual pats on the back,” Kevin wrote on Facebook. “I got to meet the man I rescued today. He’s doing well! He’s a developmentally disabled man who had run away from his group home that morning. He called me his guardian angel … Pretty cool experience.”
She Knew Just What to Do
Natasha Cope of Salt Lake City, Utah, a trained Army combat medic, never needed to put her skills to use during her year-long deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. She returned home to Salt Lake City with her husband, Jeremy, and enrolled in the University of Utah.
She was on the bus on the way to class when the driver’s radio squawked. “Call 911! A man’s been hit by a car!”
The bus soon came upon the scene. People were gathered around the 70-year-old man, but nobody knew what to do.
Except Natasha. She asked to be let off. She ran over, gave the man her coat and mittens and treated him for shock. The EMTs who arrived later were thankful someone had known what to do. They were amazed that someone as qualified as Natasha was there, at that moment.
Also pretty amazing? Natasha was six months pregnant. She was honored by the American Red Cross last week.
A Message of Comfort
Jack Froese, from Dunmore, Pennsylvania, was only 32 when he passed away from a heart arrhythmia. That was in June 2011. In November, Jack’s friends received emails from him … referring to conversations they’d shared just before his death:
Was someone Jack knew involved in sending the emails? If so, how could they know about conversations they didn’t witness? Whoever sent them, the messages did their job, comforting Jack’s friends and relatives in their time of loss.
Events like these happen every day, everywhere. Have you witnessed or heard about any near you? Submit your story at this link or email mw@guideposts.org.
