I Am A Hero?

 (this was taken a second before the "rescue")

I am headed off to Crater Lake today but I am not sure it will be as "odd" as what happened last weekend. Last weekend I had something happen that I actually do not expect anyone to believe, the story is odd even to me and I experienced it myself.

I decided to stop toward the evening and walked up a trail to see a waterfall. The trail I took was well kept and had rails along any area where there was a drop off. It was late in the afternoon and I did not see anyone else around the falls or even on the trail. I decided to slip under the railing so I could hold onto a tree trunk and lean over the falls to get a better picture. (Please understand I have never claimed to do the smartest thing every time.)

I heard some people yelling up the river a bit and decided that they were upset that I was on the wrong side of the railing. I figured I would just ignore them, get my photo and then let them scream at me after I had the pic I wanted. The people kept screaming and they were moving my direction quickly.

I leaned over the water farther with my camera pushed out over the water when a man shoved himself through the brush and started screaming at me. It startled me and I almost fell but I was not going to look at the guy or talk to him until I had the picture I wanted. He started crying in a very loud voice which did make me snap around to see what the problem was. He just kept crying "dog, my dog".

I looked down from my precarious position just in time to see this huge red dog with terrified eyes just 2 feet from going over the falls. I threw my camera onto the shore, while holding on to the tree with one hand I reach down and grabbed the dog who was directly below me. The dog and I fought the torrent of water that was pushing him towards a certain death but between the both of us we won.

The water was freezing, the rapids were fast but the dog was saved. The man kept telling me I was  a hero and for a moment I was buying the story. I then realized that the sheer odds of me hanging onto an old tree at that exact moment was to much of a long shot for it to be just a heroic deed. I did something stupid but God had me at the right place at the right time.

I am not a hero, I personally think I was placed there for a reason. I learned that sometimes you do not need to use only your head to learn a lesson but you need to listen to your heart. My head said that the odds were long for me to be there at that moment even though they were almost impossible odds there was still a one in a million chance. My heart says there is a lesson for both me and the owner of the dog. Not just being careful with your dog by a river but something else. I am not sure yet what I am supposed to learn but I am pondering over it.

Hero? no. Maybe it has something to do with teaching me that God will take care of those who love him no matter how close the call. I have felt at times that I was about to go over a waterfall and drop to a certain death but God has always been there to reach out and snatch me from certain destruction. Everyone has felt there were horrible problems in their life but be certain, swim hard and remember God is the one who can help.