When amateur drone pilot Josh Logue launched a routine flight, he expected to find unusually high stream waters from an unexpectedly heavy rainfall. What he found, however, surprised and alarmed him. The image on the controller screen showed what he thought was a large shadow on the road.

Josh said, “I zoomed in on it. Oh, it’s a car and a giant hole down here!” Immediately, he recruited his dad and a neighbor, a firefighter with the Denver Fire Department, to try to help. Once there, they found a Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV, upside-down in a large sinkhole, with rapidly rising waters rushing around it. And to their further surprise, they found two people inside, who’d been there for fifteen minutes. If the water rose another six inches, the vehicle would be completely submerged. After dialing 911 for help, they got to work.

Ryan Nuanes was the neighbor who accompanied Josh and his dad. He began communicating with the couple trapped inside, trying to ascertain how much air was still in the vehicle. Meanwhile Josh’s dad left to find chains for his pickup truck, which they would eventually use to help pull the Jeep on its side so that first responders could rescue its occupants. Ryan said “I’ve been a Denver firefighter for 25 years. And it was the most dire situation that I had seen.”

Within ten minutes, responders from the local fire, sheriff, and state patrol were on the scene, and they all collaborated with the rescue effort. Once rescued, the man and woman inside the Jeep were transported to the hospital for further treatment.

Josh still has ambitions of becoming a professional drone pilot. Before this incident, he wasn’t sure how to make such a transition. But now he certainly has something valuable to point towards. He said, “It’ll be a story that I’ll tell.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Each of us has the capacity to act as a “Good Samaritan” to others. God uses those who make themselves available for service at critical moments of need.