"The abnegation of reason is not the evidence of faith, but the confession of despair."
- J.B. Lightfoot
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
BANGKOK (AFP) – A Thai fireman turned superhero when he dressed up as comic-book character Spider-Man to coax a frightened eight-year-old from a balcony, police said Tuesday.
Teachers at a special needs school in Bangkok alerted authorities on Monday when an autistic pupil, scared of attending his first day at school, sat out on the third-floor ledge and refused to come inside, a police sergeant told AFP.
Despite teachers' efforts to beckon the boy inside, he refused to budge until his mother mentioned her son's love of superheroes, prompting fireman Sonchai Yoosabai to take a novel approach to the problem. The rescuer dashed back to his fire station and made a quick change into a Spider-Man costume before returning to the boy, he said.
"I told him Spider-Man is here to rescue you, no monsters are going to attack you and I told him to walk slowly towards me as running could be dangerous," Somchai told local television.
The young boy immediately stood up and walked into his rescuer's arms, police said.
Somchai said he keeps the Spider-Man costume and an outfit of Japanese television character Ultraman at the station in order to liven up school fire drills.
A real hero dressing up as a make-believe one to save a real child.
Awesome.
I wonder if there's a sermon illustration in there somewhere... :)
Trackbacks:
Trackback URL: http://thinklings.org/bloo.trackback.php/5321.
Comments on "Fireman Dresses Like Spiderman To Save Child":
3. Philip Melanchthon
- 03/26/2009 2:06 pm CDT
No sermon illustration, as it would entail equating Jesus with the fake, comic book hero; or would necessitate recommending that Christians should 'fake out' the lost. At best, you'd have Jesus ('fireman') putting on some false front ('temporary Spiderman outfit') to save us, rather than becoming fully human to save us.
So, anyway, I don't see how you can get a useful sermon illustration out of this story.
4. Shrode
- 03/26/2009 2:29 pm CDT
Philip Melanchthon, (cool nickname! We here at thinklings dig church history.)
Anyway, I guess you haven't seen my latest post at the top of this page. Go check it out. :)
Cuz I did it. :)
All analagies break down. No illustration, analogy or parable is exactly one for one correspondance in every detail. But I get what you are saying.
Here's what I saw:
C.S. Lewis was reached by Tolkien's comment that if Lewis loved myth so much why couldn't one be true. So the idea of someone "becoming like something else" something familiar so that we would not be frightened but would go to him and thus be saved makes sense. Scripture says "he tented among us" as one of us. He became flesh. he took on human form.
There's another old sermon illustration that's in every old pastor's library about a farmer who tried to save some sparrows freezing in his yard. He couldn't shoo them into the barn. He couldn't lure them into the barn. And finally he said, "If only I could become a sparrow...then they would understand and be saved."
So the fireman becomes something familiar, and yes "becomes myth" only in reality, in order to save a child.
Man, I love that. I agree with you, it has weaknesses, but doesn't all illustrations?
I can remember my seminary professor telling us about a "bad" sermon illustration that he had heard from a preaching student. The student described the unconditional love of a dog and said, "God's love is just like that." Ugh. :) He warned us to beware falling into such traps.
Rather, he said, we could say, "How much more unconditional and faithful is God's Love". Jesus uses the "how much more" approach several times.
So how much more cool is it that God took on human form so that we would be led back to God? Much Greater than a fireman in a spider-man suit.
Leave a Comment:
A real hero dressing up as a make-believe one to save a real child.
Good stuff :-}