So Robin Dehaven is driving his glass repair truck in Austin, Texas in the vicinity of the IRS building when he sees a small plane flying low, coming in for an approach to a runway, only problem — no runway. He watches as this small plane crashes into the IRS building. He decides to pull into the parking lot and see what he might be able to do to help. (CNN article)
This turned out to be a good thing for five occupants of the building.
CNN reporter Mike Ernest, who witnessed the aftermath, said,
“I just saw smoke and flames. I could not believe what I was seeing. It was just smoke and flames everywhere.”
(CNN article)
Another witness, Lyric Olivarez, said,
“People on the second and third floors were busting out windows, screaming, ‘Help me! Help me! Get me out of here!’ waving handkerchiefs or whatever they could find,”
(CNN article)
So Dehaven pulled into the IRS parking lot, grabbed a ladder from his truck, positioned it under a window, climbed it to a 2′ x 4′ ledge, broke the window, and rescued five occupants. (See Facebook)
Nice work Robin.
Robin’s actions and the actions of other bystanders at this scene greatly reduced the number of casualties that might have been caused by the tragic, and apparently intentional, plane crash into the Austin IRS building.
A video of the IRS building fire is below.
Your Life:
Someone reading this blog has it within his or her power to help somebody. If your that person, this is a word for you. Take the initiative.
John Masters once said,
“You have to recognize that every ‘out front’ maneuver you make is going to be lonely, but if you feel entirely comfortable, then you’re not far enough ahead to do any good. That warm sense of everything going well is usually the body temperature at the center of the herd.”
When we take initiative it often feels a bit awkward. You, I, we have to realize that this is the normal state of most any human being who’s taking initiative to venture outside the comfort zone. Remember that God is much less concerned about your current comfort than He is about your eternal condition. (Jon Courson / Applegate Christian Fellowship)
In order to be used by God to show people His love, you must take the initiative.
Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
James 4:17
You think the tax system is bad in the US. The same $40,000.00 car with 7.5% tax in the US cost almost $45,000.00 in Canada plus PDI, Freight, $404.00 Admin fee, $29.20 tire tax, $200 fuel tax on Q5, $100 A/C tax, $175 Globali, now lets throw in the 13% in GST & PST, lets not talk about insurances. Housing is almost bubble from Niagara, ON to Lewiston, NY, lets not talk about insurance. The Ontario Government will be harmonizing the 5% Provincial Sales Tax and the 8% Federal Goods and Services tax, into a harmonized 13% HST to be a little more widely used. A $1.6M ad campaign on HST neglects costs to residence of an extra $225 a year or more on utilities alone and taxes that are harmonized have a tendency of reappear as itself or something else, need I go on? http://twitter.com/economicblow