Japan’s been seeing some very encouraging drops in its suicide rates recently, but that doesn’t mean that the country has completely solved the complex issues that convince people to take their own lives. A woman in her 30s was walking near the Kenagakawa River in Tokyo. Stepping out onto a pedestrian bridge that spans the river, she climbed over the chest-high railing and threw herself into the water below in an apparent suicide attempt.

The time was just after 5:30 on a Wednesday morning, and the bridge isn’t located in a particularly busy part of the neighborhood. Luckily, though, a 70-something local resident say the woman fall into the water. “Don’t die!” he shouted while whipping out his phone to call the paramedics, but it turned out that help was even closer by.

The closest building to the bridge just so happens to be a dormitory/training facility for sumo wrestlers. With the sumo wrestlers following an early-to-rise regimen, there were large men present and ready to spring into action. In total, approximately 20 wrestlers rushed to save the woman, who appeared to be drowning, and they were able to pull her out of the water and onto the safety of dry land.

The sumo wrestlers’ work wasn’t done yet, though. When the ambulance arrived, there was a 6.5-foot barricade between the bank and street level. Luckily, there was no shortage of muscular strength on-site. A number of the sumo wrestlers combined their might to lift the stretcher up onto the road, after which it was loaded into the ambulance and the woman taken to the hospital.

Doctors later reported that the woman suffered no serious injuries. Regardless of how the wrestler’s careers in the ring turn out, they’ve all proven themselves champions of outstanding kindness and quick-thinking.

Possible Preaching Angle:

1) Opportunity; Readiness - God will often put us in circumstances where our willingness and availability can be used to serve others. 2) Talents; Spiritual Gifts – You are uniquely gifted and each of us has a different talent with which we can serve God.