Rain—seventeen inches of rain—and the rivers were all raging torrents. Wind—roaring wind— uprooting trees and unroofing buildings. And darkness, without moon or stars or electric lights. A night to seek strong shelter and wait for day. Cyclone "Bola" was striking the north coast of New Zealand, and it was all one swirl after another of wind and water.
In the midst of the turmoil Colin Devitt heard a message on his radio telephone. There were people out there, five people stranded in a small truck which was about to be swept away. Colin had a school bus, a big, bulky, lumbering school bus—an unlikely rescue vehicle! But, with his father, Alan, he set out through the rising waters.
He reached the place where the truck could be seen out in the middle of the rushing water, and the first thought was that they would have to turn back. Water was running through the cab of the truck now; it looked too deep for the bus.
But over the radio telephone they could still hear the voices of the men in the truck, pleading for their lives. To stay there would be certain death for all five.
Gingerly Colin eased his big bus into the water, struggling against the water and the broken trees and debris that raced along with it. There were now no lights in the bus; their only light came from the headlights of a land cruiser that shone out across the darkness. Finally pulling up alongside the truck, they had a hard job to get the five people in it into the bus. A frightened woman and a small boy were too terrified to climb across to the bus, an elderly man was in the midst of an asthma attack, and the other two men in the truck had been battling the flood in rescue work until they were exhausted. Somehow they made it, even though by now water was splashing up as high as their windshield and the road was completely hidden.
Safely out of the storm one of the men told reporters, "Mr. Devitt saved all of us. We owe our lives to him. That guy is more than just a hero!"
Colin Devitt faced tremendous peril to himself when he went into the flood. His life might have been the price he paid for his mission of mercy. If he had been swept away, the five people in the truck would have had no hope, no chance for life.
We too were once without God and without hope in the world. But the Lord Jesus Christ came down where we were and at the cost of His own life made a way of escape from the flood of judgment that is surely coming on this world. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Tim. 1:15. Now the way of escape is open to all who will believe and receive the salvation He offers.