I never knew Alan B. Hall, but he is a man I will forever admire. On Easter Monday on a Florida beach he saw a four-year-old girl struggling in a rip current and dived in to get her. Fox News reports Hall pushed the girl, who would have certainly drowned, from the current and that the girl was able to swim to shore. Hall didn't make it back. He turned face down in the water for reasons not yet known and died at age 65.
This story caught my attention and my heart because it is the story of a family on vacation with three children about the same age as mine. All of them were caught in the current and the parents were able to save two but not the third, youngest child. I have a four-year-old daughter and can imagine the terror of the parents. And I can imagine the absolute joy and gratefulness of parents who had their daughter returned to them by a stranger who saved her from death. Hall probably thought he'd make it back, but he also knew there was a risk and he didn't hesitate to take it. If he had hesitated, the girl likely would have been gone.
I don't know anything about the personal life of Hall. I only know the few details given about him in the news story. I do know that those who sacrifice themselves for others have a likeness to Christ that few ever achieve in this world. And I know Christ told us "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
I hope you'll join me in praying for the repose of his soul:
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen
Amen
ReplyDeleteAlan B. Hall was a direct descendant of the American Revolution. He was related to Lyman Hall, the signer of the Declaration of Independence. People would have said: Children are being watched from the heavens on the watchful eyes of "Uncle" Alan Hall from the heavens.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the additional info. Descended from great men, he was obviously a great man in his own right. My condolences.
ReplyDeleteAlan B. Hall is the extremely distant cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, John Wayne, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and George W. Bush!
ReplyDeleteAlso, Alan B. Hall was the extremely distant cousin of Robert E. Lee!
ReplyDeleteThis is just in, the story similar to Alan B. Hall, this time, a Cherokee named Steven Sizemore! Both Sizemore and Hall are distant cousins of each other! That is one crazy world, and that is amazing, Lord!
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