My daddy always told me, “Deborah Jan, there are two things in life you can count on – death and paying taxes!” Well, I’m not sure about taxes, but I do know if we live on this earth, there will be a time of death. Later in my life I expanded daddy’s saying to “it’s not if a catastrophe will strike, but when.” Our world learned that lesson very well this past week with the disastrous flooding in Central Texas.
A tsunami wall of water came gushing onto campgrounds all along the Guadalupe River over the 4th of July. Campers scrambled to get away from the wall of gushing water, with far too many being swept away. Hundreds have lost their lives and many more still missing. Search and rescue teams have a monumental task to search the debris-filled river beds for those missing. Far too many have been killed … and far too many families are grieving.
Thousands of volunteers are working on site and behind the scenes in the recovery effort. Feeding, housing and counseling the workers proves to be a monumental task in and of itself. Non-profit organizations are doing what they do best – providing resources to equip the “armies” that are there to help.
It’s at times like these that we find extraordinary ordinary people – those ordinary individuals God uses in extraordinary ways to help others. These are the unsung heroes. These are the individuals who didn’t ask for recognition, but give their hearts and souls to care deeply about their fellow man. Extraordinary ordinary people have been among us since time began. Take Nicholas Winton, for instance …
In 1939, when Europe braced for the horrors of another world war, a quiet hero emerged — from the office of a London stockbroker (not the soldier or statesman you would think). Nicholas Winton, a British banker on vacation, was in Prague, where Jewish families were already facing persecution. Moved emotionally by their desperation, he gave up his comfortable life and set out to do the unthinkable — to rescue as many children as he could before the Nazis closed the borders.
Winton organized what would become known as the Czech Kindertransport. He forged documents, navigated endless bureaucratic red tape, and begged strangers for donations and foster homes in Britain. He managed to arrange eight trains to carry 669 children to safety — children who would otherwise have been swallowed by the Holocaust. He did all this quietly, without recognition, driven solely by a sense of moral duty. He wasn’t a soldier, nor a spy — just a man who refused to look away.
For 50 years, he told no one. Not even his wife. His heroic deeds might have remained a secret forever, had she not discovered an old scrapbook in the attic filled with names, photos, and letters from the rescued children. Decades later, Winton was invited to a program as a guest, unaware that the studio audience was filled with those very children, all adults now with families of their own. They stood and applauded the man who had given them life. Nicholas Winton didn’t seek glory — he simply chose to act, proving that even one ordinary person can shape history through quiet, courageous kindness. Nicholas Winton was an extraordinary ordinary person.
We will be hearing about many extraordinary ordinary people in the days and weeks ahead following this most recent flood catastrophe. I’m sure none of them seek the limelight or recognition, but I’m sure all of them strive to do what’s right for their fellow man.
“For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13)
Debby Efurd is co-founder of Cary John Efurd Ministries of Pittsburg, TX. She has been a contributor to Bound for Life and written numerous articles published in LifeNews, Christian Post and the Baptist Standard, and is the author of Go Tell It! Debby can be contacted at caryjohnefurdinistries@gmail.com. Visit her at the Second Mile blog at https://debbyefurd.com.
Tagged: heroes, world war II
