Abraham and Isaac

The story of Abraham and Issac begins with God blessing Abraham with his only son Issac, whom he loves very much; however, God (selfishly I might add) wants to see if Abraham loves him the most. In order to do this, he orders Abraham to take Isaac to the region of Moriah so he can sacrifice him to the Lord. Abraham took Isaac, two servants and a donkey and set off on the 50 mile journey. When they arrived, Abraham ordered the servants to wait with the donkey while he and Isaac went up the mountain.  Isaac asked his father where the lamb was for the sacrifice, and Abraham answered that the Lord would provide the lamb. Saddened and confused, Abraham bound Isaac with ropes and placed him on the stone altar. Right when Abraham raised his knife to kill his son, God told him to stop and not harm the boy. He knew Abraham loved him because he hadn't hid his only son. Once Abraham looked up, he saw a ram caught in a thicket by its horns, so Abraham used the ram as his sacrifice. With this result, God blessed Abraham's family for generations. 
My favorite real-life hero is the man that threw his body over a stranger with an oncoming subway approaching so that the stranger's life would be saved. This event happened in 2007, but I still remember it to this day. The man's name is Wesley Autrey, a construction worker and Navy vet, and the story goes like this... Mr. Autrey was walking his two daughters home before heading to work (this is happening around 12:45 pm) where nearby a man about 20 years old collapsed and started convulsing on the ground. People rushed to helped him, and he managed to get up, but he tripped and fell into the subway tracks. At that time, the subways headlights were approaching, so Mr. Autrey made a split-second decision to throw his body and push the man and himself into a foot-deep space between the tracks. The train tried to break, but it was too late and five cars rolled over them before coming to a stop. Everyone was screaming, but then they heard "We're OK!" and "Tell my daughters their father is OK!". After workers got the two out, Mr. Autrey was found to only have bumps and bruises-nothing more. After the scene, Mr. Autrey said "I don’t feel like I did something spectacular; I just saw someone who needed help, I did what I felt was right.” I think this depicts true sacrifice because a man almost threw his life away (in front of his daughters!!) for a complete strangers I still get chills from the story, and I just think it is so wonderful! 


Wesley Autrey
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