From the Flames

On Thursday night, April 12, the Mayor of Newark, NJ, Cory Booker, returned home and found his neighbor’s home on fire.  A woman was outside the home screaming that her daughter was still inside.

Booker decided to go into the burning building to try to save his neighbor.  Concerned about his safety, his security detail tried to discourage him, but Booker told them that the woman was going to die.

Booker entered the burning building and the third story apartment where he was told the woman was trapped.  He said he feared for his life as the kitchen erupted in flames and he couldn’t find the woman.  He called out to her, and he heard her faint cries of “I’m here, I’m here.  Help!  I’m here.” Booker found her on her bed, lifted her up, and carried her on his shoulders through the burning kitchen.

He met Detective Alex Rodriguez in the stairwell, who helped him carry the woman outside to safety.  Booker’s security detail also helped three others escape the flames.

48-year-old Zina Hodge, still recovering from burns and smoke inhalation at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, is grateful to be alive and thankful for the mayor's heroics in saving her from the flames.  Hodge told reporters that she was sleeping in her third-story apartment and became “delusional” after awaking and gasping for air due to the smoke in her room.  When asked about Booker’s coming to the rescue, she said: "I didn't even see him.  I don't even remember him picking me up, but I heard him calling me…."

 “I’m blessed," she told Fox5 News. "If Cory wouldn’t have come in there and rescued me, I would have died in there." *

Due to our sins, it is as if we are trapped in a burning building and destined to perish in the flames of hell (cf. Matthew 18:8-9).

But Jesus came to rescue us from the flames!  He essentially endured “hell” for us by taking upon Himself the sins of the world and paid the price for our redemption by dying on the cross for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:7).  If we will accept His offer of salvation, we will be blessed with salvation and eternal life.

He is “calling” each one of us through the Gospel message!

In order to accept His offer, we must place our faith and trust in Him (Acts 16:30-31), turn from our sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).

Detective Alex Rodriguez praised Cory Booker for his courageous actions.  He told “CBS This Morning”: “Without thinking twice, he ran into the flames and rescued this young lady.”

Once we recognize the perilous predicament in which our sins place US, and the love of Jesus who gave His life for us to rescue us from the flames, we will praise Him and gladly accept His offer of salvation and life!

Do YOU hear Him calling?  Won’t you respond today?

David A. Sargent, Minister