On November 5, 2017, the little community of Sutherland Springs, Texas, was devastated and the world was horrified when a gunman shot and killed 26 people and wounded 20 others in the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs.

Yesterday, January 11, 2018, the still-traumatized community had a reason to celebrate: a young survivor of the tragedy was able to return home.

Five-year-old Ryland Ward was shot five times during the massacre.  He was found beneath his stepmom, Joann Ward, who died protecting him.

“I was just checking for survivors, and I felt a little tug on my pant leg,” said Rusty Duncan, a firefighter with the Stockdale Volunteer Fire Department, who was one of the first rescuers inside the church building after the shooting. “I had no idea what it was.  I looked down and a little hand was coming from under somebody.”  It was Ryland.  Duncan carried Ryland’s limp body outside and began treating his wounds before he was lifted into an ambulance and rushed to San Antonio’s University Hospital.

Ryland would undergo multiple surgeries and procedures over the next two months.  Duncan visited him frequently.  He promised Ryland that when he got better, he would take him back home in a fire truck.  Yesterday, that promise became a reality.  Ryland waved from the front seat of the fire truck to a crowd of cheering spectators.  At the wheel was Duncan, his rescuer and friend.  Following them was a convoy of other vehicles that topped 100 in number, including fire trucks and other emergency vehicles from Wilson and Bexar County.

“He’s one happy little boy right now. He got to ride in a fire truck and talk on the radio and he was a captain for the day,” Edwin Baker, chief of the Stockdale Volunteer Fire Department and Wilson County’s fire marshal, said afterward.  “He was a little bit overwhelmed by the enormity of it, but he’s very ecstatic to be home,” Baker said. *

Because you and I are “wounded” and dying because of our own sins (Romans 6:23), our loving God sent His Son to rescue us (John 3:16).  Jesus gave His life for us in order to save us, for His blood paid the price for our redemption from sin (Ephesians 1:7).  “The Lord Jesus Christ … gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age” – and from our sins – “according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:3-4 NIV).  He died for us so that we might live eternally.

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).

“So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him” (Hebrews 9:28).  And He will take us home to heaven.  No, it may not be in a red fire truck, but it will be a glorious entry into the heavenly kingdom – all because Jesus gave His life to rescue us from sin.

Won’t YOU accept His offer of salvation and eternal life on His terms?

-- David A. Sargent

* Information gleaned from “Firefighter who saved boy’s life drove him home to Sutherland Springs” by Silvia Foster-Frau and Zeke MacCormack in www.mysanantonio.com.

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

Archived issues of Living Water can be viewed and accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org