Personal Change

"I've Got to Get the Driver Out!"

admin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:18:02 -0600

"I don't know why you're trying to control my life!" I yelled. "I'm not doing drugs like some kids. I'm not going out and getting drunk every night. Why don't you just leave me alone?"

The truth was my parents had good reason for concern. The only classes I was passing in high school were country-and-western dancing and athletics. At home, I fought constantly with my parents, breaking their rules by staying out until 4 a.m.

Fireball!

jbloustein — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:51:51 -0600

Every second mattered.

The blaze was less than two miles away, but it seemed like we’d never get there. Our fire squad barreled down the road. The siren screamed. My heart pounded inside my heavy turnout coat.

My job was to lead the charge into the blaze. The other men would follow. They were depending on me to deliver the knockout blow to put out as much of the fire as I could on my own.

The Dive

jbloustein — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:12:56 -0600

It wasn’t a great day for diving.

Clouds darkened the horizon and eight-foot swells rocked our dive boat. There were nine of us on board, the captain, the dive master and seven divers. One woman was already sick from all the tossing and turning. Still, we were determined to go in.

We were off a remote island in the Caribbean, about 40 miles from the coast of Honduras. We’d come a long way, flying several different airplanes to get here.

Haitian Man Found Alive

batch — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:05:06 -0600

A 24-year-old Haitian man was found alive underneath rubble in Port-au-Prince, where he was trapped for 11 days after the devastating earthquake.

After a three-hour rescue effort, French and Greek rescue teams emerged with Wismond Exantus, who seemed to be in good health and without a single broken bone or fracture, according to The Independent.

According to the news provider, Exantus was greeted by cheers and reporters upon his rescue, confirming the hope of many that more survivors may remain buried beneath the rubble.

Unseen Danger

admin — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:00:00 -0600

Every morning my husband, Roland, and I have a time of prayer together, and we always ask God for his protection for the day. We didn't know how much we were going to need it one day last winter.

Finding Springtime

tselucky — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:54:43 -0600

I was feeling sorry for myself.

Lethargic and blue, I trudged along. The weather had been rainy and cold for days. The spring that all New Englanders yearn for seemed perpetually out of reach, and Lent seemed to be dragging on forever.

Everything was gray and tedious and miserable as I wrestled with the umbrella that had become a seemingly permanent part of my walking garb.

Suddenly a flatbed truck came careering around the corner. Just as it passed me, the tractor it carried came loose and flew toward the sidewalk.

Through the Ice

jbloustein — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:08:43 -0600

"Slow down!” I shouted to my husband, Wayne, raising my voice so he could hear me above the roar of the snowmobile. “I don’t want to drop the cake!”

I held on to Wayne’s waist with one hand and the cake with the other as we sped across the ice toward church.

Not a Second to Spare

batch — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:21:19 -0500

Usually I had to be at school by 7:30 a.m.

Northridge High School was doing some testing in the lower grades that day, so seniors like me got to go in late. Mom offered me a ride when it was time to go.

I sat beside her in our van, kicked off my sandals and daydreamed about my future. I'd be graduating from high school in a few months.

Man Saves Elderly Woman in Subway

batch — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 04:05:07 -0600

A New York City man risked his life to save an elderly woman without thinking twice.

When Douglas Murphy was in a subway station, he noticed an elderly woman, Anna Lebron, was accidently bumped by a group of teenagers onto the tracks.

After calling to her to wake up, Murphy noticed she was out cold. According to ABC, he thought of his own mother, and what would have happened if she had fallen on the tracks.

Husband Saves Wife in Earthquake

batch — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 04:05:08 -0600

In the wake of the devastating earthquake that has rocked Haiti, many individuals are becoming heroes.

One such man was Frank Thorp Jr., a missionary worker who, when he heard that Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince was hit hard by an earthquake, raced back from 100 miles away to ensure his wife Jillian was safe, according to NBC Washington.

Thorp arrived at his mission house to find his wife and a colleague trapped underneath concrete and debris. They had been buried for more than nine hours.