New York police officer saves 4-year-old from drowning in backyard pool" by Robert Gearty, www.foxnews.com

To the Rescue

Carly Shaffer and her four-year-old daughter, Ella, were attending a
birthday party for a friend's daughter. While at the party, Shaffer heard
her daughter yell.

"From far away, in the noise and chaos of many kids happily playing and
adults laughing and chatting, I heard her cry out. [It was] not much
different than a cry of annoyance that told me maybe her brother took her
shovel, or her sister took her ball. [You] know, the usual yells. But I
just knew. I KNEW something was wrong," explained Shaffer on a Facebook
post.

Ella had been standing on the stairs of a backyard pool, promising not to
leave the ladder. Then she saw a beautiful doll in the middle of the pool.
She dove in to get it. Ella, who doesn't know how to swim, was literally in
over her head. She yelled out. Her mother heard her and came running.

"My heart was in my stomach as I was running to her, watching her bob up and
down in the water, choking," Shaffer wrote on Facebook.

Before her mother could get to her, a man dove into the water to rescue
Ella. Shaffer described the man and his heroic actions: "A man I briefly
met, 5 min[utes] prior had made it to her first. She was taking in water
and surely would have drowned. He drove in, fully dressed, shoes and all,
over the side of the pool for a kid he didn't even know. A kid he's not
related to. A kid he's never met. He saved my kid's life."

The man was Paul Munding, an off-duty police officer for the Clarkstown
Police Department. Shaffer - and many others - are calling him "a hero." *

We are much like Ella. We get enraptured with the things of the world and
end up "getting in over our heads." We are drowning in our sins in
desperate need of rescue.

But Someone we did not know came to our rescue. He was "fully dressed" as a
man, but our Rescuer was actually God in the flesh (John 1:14), Jesus. Our
salvation required His death on the cross for our sins (1 Peter 1:18-19).
This He did for you and me so that we can be saved and receive the gift of
eternal life (Ephesians 1:7).

God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust
in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts
17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). He will
continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of His
Word (1 John 1:7-9).

Jesus "gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age,
according to the will of our God and Father, to Whom be glory for ever and
ever. Amen" (Galatians 1:4-5).

Won't YOU allow Jesus to save you by placing your faith in Him through your
trusting obedience?

-- David A. Sargent

* Information gleaned from "New York police officer saves 4-year-old from
drowning in backyard pool" by Robert Gearty, www.foxnews.com.

David A. Sargent, Minister