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On a wet February morning in Madison, Georgia, 9-year-old Anaiah Rucker had her life changed forever.
And because of a split-second decision she made that morning, her 5-year-old sister’s life was also changed forever.
On that fateful morning, while their mother watched from her front porch, the young girls crossed the street to catch the bus for school…just like they did every other day. Unfortunately, a couple of seemingly insignificant factors would make this day very, very different, even tragic.
A full size pickup truck headed north in the wet conditions wasn’t seen in time by the girls who were wearing hoodies to block out the rain. In the instant before the inevitable impact, Anaiah pushed her little sister Camry out of the way, thus putting herself directly in the path of the truck.
Camry was saved, but Anaiah was knocked unconscious, and ultimately lost a leg and a kidney in her brave act of selflessness.
It took Anaiah over a month to recover, and she had to undergo multiple surgeries for her critical injuries, but when she was finally released from the hospital, she was greeted by the well-wishes of thousands of her school friends and neighbors.
Today, Anaiah shrugs off being called a hero. But she knows the stakes; when asked what would have happened had she not sacrificially leapt into action, she calmly replied, “She (Camry) would probably be gone forever.”
But when asked why she would make such an incredible sacrifice, Anaiah shared the most touching piece of this story: “I love her more than anything.”
This little girl, an active member in the choir at Sweet Home Baptist Church, has fully embodied the words of Jesus as recorded in John 15:12-17.
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.
Anaiah was willing to do what Jesus did, because she knew what Jesus knew. If He hadn’t given His life on the cross, we’d be lost forever.
Easter proves Jesus loved us “more than anything.”
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Topics Illustrated Include:
Accident
Baptist
Children
Choices
Christ
Easter
God’s Love
Jesus
Jesus’ Teaching
Love
Pain
Protection
Sacrificial
Siblings
Suffering
Tragedy
(Resource cataloged by David R Smith)
