In Need of A Rescue

4.2.18



In Need of a Rescue

Sheila and I spoke about how we are currently praying intently for our family. Many of us are in a time of transition. In a way, it’s a crisis - a problem and an opportunity.
I remember my own issues during my late teen yearsI fell into a temptation to wander into forbidden territory. I washed into a sewer of plans, thoughts and actions that were dangerous for me and others.
I was scared and missing the warmth of my earlier years of school and family security. I thought I was a free thinking adult, but really I was lost and in danger.
I was trapped by my own circumstances, but still searching for a way out and way to change. I was surrounded by several barriers -- my desire to leave the security of home and my mother and father and my desire to have fun exploring new things and new ideas with new people.
I was emotionally removed from my loving, secure family and church for two years. I drifted into the sewage of immorally and unbelief and doubt in God and His love.
In joined my running buddies in doing things that my family taught me were wrong. I went over the guard rails they had instilled in my conscience. My parents and friends were concerned and knew something was wrong and tried to caution me of various dangers. They did not know where I was spiritually, mentally and emotionally, but God knew. I am sure they prayed for me and kept shining their light of Christian love to guide as best they could.
It was a miracle that I was found and rescued by God. I was basically dead and He brought me alive.
I came out on the other side more alert than ever of the danger of my own rebellion. It has killed others.
Still alive at age 19, I made a huge turn in my life at age 20 and was rescued by God. In June of 1965 my brother-in-law, Bill, reached out to me and offered me chance out of my circumstances. He offered help and I knew I needed help. It was a few months before I got totally on the right track. When that happened, I received the love, grace, mercy and forgiveness of God. I got to the place where I felt clean, free and back on track for my best goals.
My family believed in celebrating Easter. Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave gave all of us the hope of living with God after our life here is over.
· I wanted to share a story that was on all three national news stories tonight Apr 2, 2018, 7:17 PM ET. The one I’m sharing is from ABC News. By Mark Osborne, Emily Shapiro, Frank Elaridi and Whit Johnson.
A 13-year-old boy was found alive this morning after falling through a wooden plank on Sunday and being washed away into a network of drainage pipes in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
Jesse Hernandez, who was scared, cold and hungry when he was found early this morning, is "alert and talking," the fire department said.
Jesse was trapped in the "intricate, enclosed" pipe system overnight during the "relentless" search for him that lasted 13 hours, LAFD Capt. Erik Scott told ABC News.
Scott called it a "miracle" that Jesse survived.
The accident happened at about 4:30 p.m. local time on Sunday when the boy fell about 25 feet into a sewer pipe. Jesse's family was picnicking nearby as part of its annual Easter tradition before the boy went missing. The fire department told ABC station KABC in Los Angeles that Jesse and his friends had climbed over a chain-link fence near Griffith Park and entered an abandoned maintenance shed. Jesse then fell after a wooden plank he was standing on gave way.
The pipes are 4 feet in diameter and are filled with 2 feet or more of sewage that moves at 15 mph, officials said.
Teams from the Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles Police Department, California Highway Patrol and experts from the Bureaus of Sanitation, Engineering and Contract Administration were among the officials who worked to analyze the 6,400-feet pipe system and conduct the search.
Cameras used to inspect pipes for repair were employed as part of the rescue effort, the fire department said. "At 4 o'clock ... one of the cameras saw some handprints on the sewer inside the pipe. The first thing they hear is, 'Help.'" Rescuers opened the maintenance hatch and spotted Jesse, who had seen a glimpse of light when the sewage hatch was opening, Scott said.
"Right away they lowered the hose ... and said, 'Hold on.' He held on and they reeled him up,"
Scott said it appears Jesse traveled about three-quarters of a mile. Crews were extremely concerned that Jesse wouldn't be found safe due to the fall and the hazardous material inside the pipes. "We maintained hope, we maintained intensity and we did not give up," Scott said. "But I'll be honest, we did not think we would find a viable patient."
After there was word that Jesse had been found, Scott said he has never seen so many men hold back their tears and embrace each other.
Jesse was taken to a hospital to be evaluated, the fire department said. He has since been released
I wanted to share this story with you because it reminded me of my own story.


 Luke 15.

15 Now all the tax collectors and the ^[a]sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. ² Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

³ So He told them this parable, saying, ⁴ “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the ^[b]open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? ⁵ When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.


Larry Wishard