He Didn't Have To Do It
   
     It was a cold and snowy day on January 13, 1982, when an Air
Florida 737 on takeoff from Washington D.C.'s National Airport in ran
into trouble.  Only seconds after the jetliner lifted off the ground,
ice on the control surfaces forced it back down where it crashed into
a bridge and sank in over 25 feet of water in the Potomac River.

     Only 1/2 mile from the Pentagon and 1 1/2 miles from the White
House, 74 people in the plane and four others who were in cars on the
bridge died.  Only five people escaped the tangled wreckage to find
themselves fighting again for survival against the freezing waters and
swift currents of the river.

     As the crowds gathered along the shore and the rescue efforts
began.  A news helicopter hovered over the struggling passengers
trying to pluck them out of the water by letting them grab onto its
landing skids and hauling them to shore.  Through all the confusion
and fight for survival, one of the male passengers helped a woman
passenger grab the skid while he waited for the next trip.  However,
he couldn't last and sank to his death seconds later.

      A young Defense Department worker on his way home left the crowd
of onlookers and waded out into the water to grab another woman,
pulling her to shore when he saw that she didn't have enough strength
to make it.

      What made one man risk his life and another give his up for the
sake of total strangers.  They both had families who loved them and
depended on them very much.  Neither man had in mind making the
headlines for their acts of heroism.  Each man had in mind only that
someone else was desperately in need and they were in a place to help.

    Jesus showed us the same type of concern and love after suffering
the incredible extremes of Roman punishment.  Having been beaten
several times and hanging upon a wooden cross by nails that were
driven through his hands and feet.  Suffering not only the physical
tortures that men's evil minds could conjure, he also suffered untold
agony by carrying the sins of the world on his shoulders.  Yet through
all of this, he had the time to reach out to one of the two criminals
hanging next to him.

    One criminal ridiculed Jesus by saying, "If You are the Christ,
save Yourself and us."  Even though he was asking for help, it was not
serious but abusive.  The other man responded by saying, "Do you not
even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?  And we
indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this
Man has done nothing wrong."  Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember
me when You come into your kingdom."  And Jesus said to him,
"Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.

    Many times we too find ourselves suffering various trials in life
but one thing that I like about the Christian way is that there is
always time for compassion for others around us in need.  Without the
love that only Christ can give, what a rotten place this world would
be to live in.

Frank Cooke