Heroes in Unlikely Places
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.”[1]
September 11, 2001 shocked a complacent world from its lethargy into enforced wakefulness. Before that day, police and fire fighters were often thought of as necessary nuisances. If nothing else, the events of that day snapped us from what could easily be described as a near universal somnambulation. We were forcibly compelled to acknowledge that we had taken for granted quiet heroes within our society.
As the twin towers of the World Trade Center fell into one massive heap of rubble, all free men and women grieved the loss of life. We North Americans grieved our loss of innocence. Most of all, we each grieved at the needless deaths of brave individuals—firemen and police officers—who died risking their lives so that others might live. The bravery of those who entered those burning buildings is no longer taken for granted, but rather review of the events has only enhanced their valour. Similarly, Canada’s military men and women who serve today in Afghanistan remind us that we dare not assume they are any less than courageously serving for our benefit.
There is in this statement from the Saviour instruction revealing God’s grace toward our fallen race. Courage and love may be confused in the sacrifice of one individual in the place of another, for love compels courage. Without question, we who are Christians will benefit from examination of these precious commodities. May God make us willing to express our gratitude for the courage of quiet heroes among us, and may He make us a people that love others deeply from the heart. Join me in exploration of the twin issues of love and courage.
Evidence of Love — Whatever else may be evident from the statement of the Saviour, an individual’s willingness to sacrifice himself for another is evidence of love. However, death is not of itself an indication of love. There may be many reasons an individual would die—even willingly. I speak cautiously and with deepest humility in saying that motives are seldom pure. Rather, multiple motives may be thrown together leading an individual to the supreme sacrifice.
Peer pressure may cause an individual to sacrifice his life. I don’t necessarily mean this in a negative sense. I refer to the sacrifice of brave individuals who have willingly given their lives for members of their own unit during times of war or trauma.
On May 6, 1970, Lance Corporal James Howe, together with two other marines, was occupying a defensive position in a sandy beach area in Vietnam. Enemy sappers suddenly launched a grenade attack against the position, utilising the cover of darkness to carry out their assault. Lance Corporal Howe and his comrades moved to a more advantageous position in order to return suppressive fire. When an enemy grenade landed in their midst, Lance Corporal Howe immediately shouted a warning and then threw himself on the deadly missile, absorbing the blast with his own body.[2]
Andrew Mynarski of Winnipeg and Pat Brophy were tail gunners in the RCAF. At 12:00 am June 13, the two men and the rest of the crew were aboard their Lancaster, A for Able, crossing the coastline of France, and keeping a look out for anti-aircraft artillery. Shortly after the Lancaster crossed into enemy lines, it was “coned” in searchlights and the pilot began evasive manoeuvres. Within minutes, Brophy spotted a German Junkers firing rapidly. As he and Mynarski pivoted their guns to take aim, the Lancaster was hit. Brophy remembers noting that it was 13 minutes past midnight.
A burst tore through the fuselage, igniting the wing fuel tank, and knocking out both engines. Fire ripped through the plane, separating the two gunners and destroying the intercom. The pilot gave the signal for all crew to bail out. Mynarski was half way out of the rear hatch and about to jump when he looked back and saw Brophy struggling to get out of his turret. The hydraulic pivot system had been shot up, and Brophy was trapped. All the rest of the crew had already bailed, and the burning plane was bucking wildly. But Mynarski threw himself to the floor, and made his way through the flames to try to help Brophy escape. With his hair and clothing burning, Mynarski struggled in vain to turn Brophy's turret manually, but both men knew that it simply would not go. Brophy ordered Mynarski to get out while he could, and Mynarski made his way back through the growing wall of fire to the hatch, turned to salute his friend, and then made the leap. Mynarski's descent was clearly seen from below. His clothing and parachute were burning, and as he fell, the flames went higher. Although he survived the jump, he died within hours from his burns.
Incredibly, Brophy did not die. When the plane crashed moments later, his turret was thrown clear of the wreckage, and he was thrown from his turret with virtually no injury. When he came to, he picked up his helmet and out of it fell a clover Mynarski had given him. Years later Brophy reflected: “I'll always believe that a divine providence intervened to save me because of what I had seen, so that the world might know of a gallant man who laid down his life for his friend.”[3] For his selfless courage, Andrew Mynarski was awarded the Victoria Cross, posthumously, and a chain of lakes in Manitoba is named in his honour.
Though the foregoing accounts inspire admiration, it is unlikely that love alone motivated either of these two men. They were trained to respond as they did, and the knowledge that it was their friends who were threatened impelled them in a measure to respond as they did. Nevertheless, such selfless action is admirable.
Commitment to ideas may lead an individual to sacrifice his life for another. Fifty-six men—lawyers, jurists, merchants, farmers and plantation owners—signed the American Declaration of Independence, each pledging their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honour. Of the fifty-six signers, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army and another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.[4]
Maternal or paternal love may lead an individual to sacrifice herself or himself for the child whom God has given them. We cannot know the power of love, until confronted with a situation demanding that we give our own life for our child.
Roméo Leblanc, Governor General of Canada, awarded the Star of Courage to Cindy Corlett-Parolin, posthumously. On August 19, 1996, Cindy Parolin died to save her six-year-old son from a vicious cougar attack near Princeton, British Columbia. Mrs. Parolin was horseback riding with three of her children when her youngest son was thrown by his frightened horse and attacked by the cougar. Mrs. Parolin jumped to the ground and provoked the cat with a stick, until it released her child. The enraged beast then pounced on her. As she wrestled with the animal, she ordered her children to take their injured brother and run for help. When rescuers arrived, over one hour later, they found her still alive in the underbrush where she had been dragged by the cougar. The animal was still crouched over her savagely mauled body. A man fired a shot in the air and unleashed his dog to scare the cougar off. The animal was then shot.
Patty McConnell, a tourist from Texas, died fighting the bear which attacked and killed her thirteen-year-old son. Ray Kitchen, a business owner and outdoorsman from Fort Nelson, B.C. was also killed when he attacked the bear in an effort to save Ms. McConnell and her son. The bear was killed by two Americans (Duane Eggebroten and Dave Webb) who, though fearful as result of past difficulty with Canadian authorities to transport a firearm through Canada, used a thirty-thirty rifle to kill the bear.
It is possible, that one may give life quite by accident. Hazel White received the Star of Courage posthumously for giving her life to save her friend. On April 29, 1996, in Cluculz Lake, British Columbia, this brave woman was murdered while protecting her friend from the attack of the woman's estranged common-law husband. Aware of the man's frequent violent assaults on her friend, Ms. White was staying with her for moral support. Shortly before midnight, the women were awakened by the sound of the man smashing a glass patio door with a sawed-off shotgun. Ms. White told her friend to escape through the bathroom window while she went to confront the aggressor. Armed with a piece of driftwood, she succeeded in distracting the man long enough to allow her friend to flee to safety. Regrettably, Ms. White was shot in the back by the aggressor who then went on to severely wound another resident, a 13-year old girl, before setting the house ablaze and committing suicide.
Regardless of the mix of motive, few of us would argue that courage and love was united in each of the aforementioned incidents. Of course, there are the heroes whom we have taken for granted. No one enjoys receiving a speeding ticket from the police who patrol our highways and enforce our laws. We seldom think about the firemen who are constantly on call, waiting for the call which they pray never comes. When that call comes, they rush to attack the flames, and if human life is threatened, they willingly rush into the fire seeking to save the dying.
We are driven to recall this attitude of quiet heroism as we see the reminders of brave men rushing into the twin towers. Karla Dorman has written of that day:
WHAT DO HEROES DO?
THROUGH DISASTERS LARGE AND SMALL,
WHETHER REAL OR FALSE ALARM,
THEY WILL ANSWER EVERY CALL,
THEY STRIVE TO KEEP US FROM HARM...
THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO,
THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO.
WHAT DO HEROES DO?
NO MATTER THE TIME OF DAY,
NO MATTER THE TIME OF NIGHT,
OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID,
THEY WILL NOT GIVE UP THE FIGHT...
THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO,
THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO.
WHAT DO HEROES DO?
POLICE PROTECT US FROM CRIME,
FIREMEN PUT OUT THE FLAMES,
MEDICS TRY TO BUY MORE TIME,
OUR SAFETY THEY WILL ATTAIN...
THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO,
THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO.
WHAT DO HEROES DO?
AT TIMES THEY FACE GREAT DANGER,
AT TIMES RISKING THEIR LIVES,
HELPING LOVED ONES AND STRANGERS,
WORK TO ENSURE THEY SURVIVE...
THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO,
THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO.
WHAT DO HEROES DO?
THEY ENTERED FALLING TOWERS...
AND HEROISM WAS SHOWN...
THEY TRIED TO THWART DEATH'S POWERS...
THEY LOST MANY OF THEIR OWN...
THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO,
THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO.
THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO,
THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO.[5]
Those are such powerful, emotional words, written, I suggest, to remind us of the power resident in the mundane.
Love is demonstrated through the willingness of an individual to die for a friend. Can anyone truly imagine a greater example of love than the example revealed through one act of self-sacrifice? There is a point at which any individual may yet turn away and thus preserve his own life; but when any individual—whether mother or father, friend or colleague— willingly chooses to give up his own existence so that another can live, we can only marvel at such rare love. Though motives for such sacrifice may be complex, we intuitively recognise that we have witnessed love in its rarest and greatest form.
This leads me to turn my attention to another aspect of Jesus’ words.
Focus of Love — Jesus spoke to our hearts in those words, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” There is something wonderful here, for it is not merely that one dies for a child or a parent, but it is that one is willing to die for friends. Would that every friend loved so deeply. Do you have such a friend? Do you have one someone to whom you can turn, knowing that they love you as much?
Genuine love always focuses outward. The one loved does not necessarily merit the love, but the one who loves is unconcerned about whether the one loved is deserving. This truth is too often forgotten in this day of narcissistic exaltation. Tragically, much of what passes as love in the popular mind, is self-centred and self-exalting. Modern lovers ask how “I” will feel instead of considering the impact of love on another. If we will not live to build a person, we may be certain that we are unwilling to die for that person. If we are unwilling to esteem an individual, it is certain that we do not love that individual. Few of us will ever be asked to die for another, but each of us is asked to live for others.
The evidence that we love our children is too often lacking. Modern parents point to the toys which are purchased, designer clothing which their children wear, activities in which their children are enrolled, saying that this expenditure proves their parental love. Children, however, want parents and not pocketbooks. Love for children must be seen in willingness not only to die for them, but it must first be expressed in willingness to live for them.
Parents are responsible to love the children whom God has entrusted to them through instructing them. Mom, your children don’t need a friend, they need a mother. Dad, your children don’t need a buddy, they need a father. Instruction will, of necessity, mean that you must discipline a child, and that discipline may entail punishment. Always, discipline will mean setting boundaries appropriate for the age level and holding the child accountable for observing those boundaries.
Love for children is expressed through listening to the child, keeping lines of communication open. Children are demanding from the outset of life, and parents are the God-appointed individuals responsible to meet those demands. In no small measure, those demands must be confronted and frequently redirected so that the child will grow to maturity with a high degree of self-confidence and self-reliance, tempered with gentleness and compassion for others.
Love between man and woman—the shared love of a husband and wife—is witnessed through their living for one another. My wife at one point held me to account, saying that what I thought to be love was like a bowl of icing. The icing was nice if there was a foundation such as a cake, but without a foundation, the icing was sickening. I have no doubt that every husband here would say that he was willing to die for his wife. Every wife, however, has the right to ask her husband if he is willing to live for her.
Husbands are to love their wives as they love their own bodies [Ephesians 5:25-29]. They are to commit themselves first to their wives [e.g. Ephesians 5:31]. Likewise, husbands are to treasure their wives as spiritual equals, so that as a couple they may share together the heritage of God Himself. Thus, men are responsible to make every effort to understand their wives and they must honour their wives as the gift from God that they truly are [1 Peter 3:7]. If a man will not do this, he is not likely to love his wife enough to die for her, however romantic his protestations of love may appear.
Wives are to seek what is best for their husbands, making themselves beautiful for their own husbands and conducting their lives with modesty [see 1 Peter 3:1-6]. Wives are to voluntarily present a submissive attitude toward their own husbands. Such love is revealed through the mundane daily life, rather than in some great moment of testing. Such love demands more of us than we imagine, but without it, there is no possibility that a wife would give herself for her husband.
Love within the brotherhood of believers is made evident through our willingness to live so as to build one another. I challenge each member of this congregation to think. Failure to pray for me gives evidence that you do not love me. If you refuse to confront me in my error, you do not love me. If you avoid investing your gifts in me, it is a powerful statement that you do not love me. Your gifts—those spiritual enablements which God entrusted to you—were entrusted to you for my benefit. If you are not building me up, you do not love me. If you have nothing to do with me on a daily basis, you surely would not die for me. All protestations to the contrary are meaningless.
I wonder if we have yet learned to “love one another earnestly from a pure heart” [see 1 Peter 1:22]? Is there evidence that we love one another? Do outsiders recognise that we love one another? As parents, do we love our children? As married individuals, do we love our spouses? As Christians, do we love one another? I have no doubt that each of us who knows Christ would profess willingness to die for our beloved friends and even to die for our cherished beliefs. Perhaps we would be less likely to make such strong professions if the possibility that our execution could be shortly carried out were closer to reality for us. While I thank God that the threat of persecution is remote at the moment, I urge you to consider the need to live for one another now. Then, when that awful day of persecution does at last reach our serene Eden in the north, there will be no doubt but that the words of our Saviour will be found to have been prophetic for us.
What greater example of love have we received than that provided by our God? Listen to the challenge presented through the Word. “While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” [Romans 5:6-8]. While we were enemies that we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son [see Romans 5:10].
We have each heard the glad announcement of Scripture recorded in John 3:16. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Those whom God loves are precisely those who were estranged from Him and at enmity with Him. I have a joyous announcement concerning God—He loves us and has presented His Son as a sacrifice of atonement in our place. We who respond to His love are called to live a life of love. The love which we hold for our Lord and Saviour will be revealed through deep love for fellow Christians.
“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes” [1 John 2:9-11].
John warns, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” [1 John 4:20, 21].
The focus of love is always outward, and the love which will be revealed in each instance of genuine love is active and never passive. Though the emphasis in this fallen world is upon how love makes one feel, the emphasis of the Bible is upon how love makes one act. Genuine love compels the lover to seek the welfare of the one loved.
Power of Love — “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” The love revealed through the noble actions of firemen and policemen on September 11, 2001 galvanised a world to unite against religious terrorism. The bravery of men and women united to subdue evil on United Flight 93 that same day serves to incite bravery and courage in all people. Their brave resistance would cost them their lives, though multiplied other lives would be spared.
Though selfish protestation and doubting by some cowardly individuals in high places has obscured the root of the evil in many instances, there remains sufficient clarity for us to oppose this evil at result of the heroic love of a few brave men and women. Love can change nations and inspire generations to heights of heroism and goodness previously thought impossible. Love can indelibly imprint courage on a people.
Jareau Almeyda was in his office on the 85th floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001. He recounts the horror of that day. After the plane crashed through the tower, the people began the long trek down by the stairs. They were stopped at the 80th floor by an influx of people which caused the exodus to move slowly to the 78th floor. There, they moved to another stairwell.
The next thirty flights were all stop and go. At about the 40th floor, the crowd again came to a complete stop. Moving up one story, they transferred to another stairwell and again began the long climb down to safety. At about the 22nd floor, they met the first firemen. Almeyda says that it was a relief to see these men. They assured the frightened people that they were going to be ok, and that everything below them was ok. Almeyda recalls one fireman saying “It’s smooth sailing from here on end, so walk quickly, but safely.” For the panicky crowd, that was a very reassuring moment.
According to Almeyda, many of these fire fighters were out of breath. They were tired, drenched in sweat and some were even on the floor resting. Can any of us actually imagine running up 20 flights of stairs with an oxygen tank on the shoulders, an axe, a metal rod, a hose, and all the protective clothing fire fighters are required to wear for their own safety? That must be over a hundred pounds of gear.[6]
I do not question the courage of the firemen who serve our community. I cannot doubt that their courage is as great as that of any member of the FDNY. They have walked in and out among us, and we have taken for granted their courage. Do we stop to consider that perhaps the motive for their service is love for us, the people among whom they live and serve? Let us never again take for granted the courage and love of those brave individuals who without hesitation risk their lives in our stead.
Neither do I doubt the courage of those who police our city. We live in a time in which lawlessness seems to be increasing. It is a thankless task to be charged with enforcing the laws of our nation. A Parliament which has lost touch with humanity seems intent on increasing the laws which govern life and the police are compelled to enforce those multiplying laws. I cannot imagine how difficult their task is.
I can only imagine what it must be to go to work each day, strapping on the tools required by the nature of the task, without knowing if I will return home that evening. Required to exhibit unfailing courtesy, the police have no way of knowing if the individual stopped for a traffic violation is a violent criminal intent on harming others. Too often, wicked individuals seek to do harm and act violently against the one who confronts them. One police officer slain in the course of duty is one too many. I recall when the Dallas Police Department issued orders that their officers were to approach all vehicles with weapons at the ready because of the very real threat of violence.
I suggest that instead of ignoring the fireman, when opportunity presents itself each of us should thank them for their service—a service revealing love for us. I suggest that instead of cursing the officer who issues a traffic citation that we thank the individual for doing the difficult task. I suggest that as Christians we take the time to recognise that these who risk their lives for us deserve our gratitude. Perhaps they do love the unlovely.
Love can transform even a minister, forever altering his ministry. A young English clergyman, known as “the boy preacher,” told D. L. Moody that he wished to go to Chicago with him and there speak for him before his congregation. Moody looked at the beardless young man and decided that he was too young to preach. He slipped away to return to America without letting the young man know which vessel he was sailing on.
Not long after Moody had returned to Chicago, he received a letter informing him that the young clergyman was in the United States and would soon be in Chicago to preach for him if he wished. Moody wrote the young man a very cold answer, telling him that if he came west, to call on him.
In a few days, he received another letter, telling him that the young preacher would arrive in Chicago on Thursday. Moody did not know what to do. He had to be in another city over Friday and Saturday. But, finally, after thinking it over a long time and seeing no way out of the difficulty, he told his church officers that a young preacher from England was to arrive on Thursday and they had better invite him to speak the two evenings he was away.
They too, were afraid that the young stranger might spoil the interest; but Moody said, “Well, try him.”
When he returned, about the first question he asked his wife was how the young preacher got on. His wife said: “He has preached both nights from John 3:16. I think you will like him. He preaches a bit differently from the way you do.”
“How is that?” Moody asked.
“He tells the people that God loves them," replied his wife.
Moody said: “He is wrong; but I will ask him to speak again tonight so I can hear him myself.”
“I think you will agree with him after you hear him,” Mrs. Moody said.
Moody went down to the church, and he noticed everybody had Bibles. “My friends,” began the youthful preacher, “if you will turn to the third chapter of John and the sixteenth verse you will find my text.”
He preached seven sermons from that one text! The last night the young preacher went into the pulpit, every eye was upon him, wondering what text he would preach from. He began: “Friends, I have been hunting all day for a new text, but I can not find one so good as the old one; so we will go back to the third chapter of John and the sixteenth verse.”
Moody said he could never forget the closing words of that night's sermon: “My friends, for a whole week I have been trying to tell you how much God loves you; but I cannot do it with this poor, stammering tongue. If I could borrow Jacob's ladder, climb up to heaven and ask Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, to tell me how much God loves sinners, all he could say would be, ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’”
Moody was convinced, and changed his manner of preaching. Now he preached that God was behind the sinner with love instead of a sword, and that, in rejecting God, the sinner was running away from the God of love.[7]
The name of that young English clergyman was Harry Moorehouse. The ministry of Moody was forever transformed and the impact of the great evangelist was made even more indelible. While preaching at Moody’s church, Moorehouse said to Moody, “If you will stop preaching your own words and preach God's Word, you will make yourself a great power for good.” This prophecy made a deep impression on Mr. Moody’s mind, and from that day he devoted himself to the study of the Bible as he had never done before. He had been accustomed to draw his sermons from the experiences of Christians and the life of the streets, now he began to follow the counsel of his young friend, and preach the Word.[8]
Can we imagine men willing to rush into that raging inferno and coolly directing the frightened people to walk calmly because everything is under control? Believe me, if I had met one of those brave men that day, I would have walked more confidently.
In the moment when you confront your greatest fear—the fear of death—I want to be one who confronts you, telling you that everything is under control. I am not the one who will save you, but I want to be one who points you to Him who saves.
I cannot help but wonder what impact one individual—one man, one woman—loving so righteously and in such godly fashion that the source of that love could not be denied, would have on our communities? What would happen were that one individual to so love that it became general knowledge that someone loved in that manner? Would the family of that individual be transformed? I do not doubt it. What impact would such an individual have on this church? I cannot doubt but that we would be forever changed. Would our town be challenged and perhaps transformed? This seems to me a distinct possibility. I wonder if that individual could be you.
God has now revealed His love toward us. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us” [1 John 4:10-12].
When we have received the love of God in Christ, we are forever changed. We become lovers—lovers of God, lovers of our families, lovers of the Body of Christ, lovers of the saints. We are not blind to the sin of those we love, but we love them and we seek their good. We willingly sacrifice ourselves for their benefit. There is no longer room in our lives for petty gossip or slander or hurtful treatment. Instead, we accept one another and esteem one another and treat one another with respect and dignity.
When we have received the love of God in Christ, we will love the lost and direct them to move calmly and swiftly to safety in Christ the Rock of Salvation. We will point them to the love of God in Christ the Lord. We will point them to the Saviour, urging them to accept the provisions of grace which God alone can provide.
I’m speaking at this moment to those who will receive the love of God in Christ. Of this I am convinced, that when you have discovered the reality of that love, you will never again be what you once were. You and I were trapped in a burning building from which there was no escape. We were sentenced to death—a death more horrible than any of us can imagine. As we rushed about in our confusion, without hope of escape, we were met by the Son of God who assured us that everything was under control. He had Himself provided an exit.
Consider but one verse as I ask each of us to make the appropriate response. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” [Romans 10:9-13].
You who are Christians, I ask that if you will be one who loves without reservation to tell the Saviour. Some of us no doubt need to come to an old-fashioned altar and there tell the Master that we will no longer stifle the love which He has invested in us. You who are yet outside the love of God, escape the sentence of death. Receive the love of God in Christ by believing this Good News of life. If you don’t understand what is meant, ask the one next to you, they will tell you. If they don’t know, bring them with you and come meet me here at the front. May God direct our steps to life. Amen.
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[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Good News Publishers, 2001. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Kenneth N. Jordan, Sr., Heroes of Our Time (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., Atglen, PA 1994) 325
[3] http://web.archive.org/web/20010405163256/valourandhorror.com/DB/PERSON/Andrew_mynarski.htm
[4] http://www.tldlobby.com/decsigners.html
[5] Karla Dorman, http://www.september11victims.com/september11victims/WHAT_HEROES_DO.htm
[6] http://www.salsadecuba.hu/twintowers.htm
[7] J. Wilbur Chapman, The Life and Works of Dwight Lyman Moody, chapter 20, http://www.sermonillustrator.org/illustrator/john316.htm