Light shines in the darkness

The terrorist attack on London Bridge on Saturday 3 June came without warning and many innocent people were caught up in the tragic events. Kirsty Boden, a young nurse from Loxton in South Australia living in London, responded immediately and ran to help the victims of the barbaric attack. As she ran to help the injured she was stabbed and killed by the terrorists. Kirsty was a theatre recovery nurse at Guy’s Hospital. Colleagues at the hospital said, “She was the most outgoing, kind and generous person who loved to help people. Helping people was what she loved to do in her job as a nurse and in her daily life.” Kirsty was a keen traveller and, on a recent trip, had posted on her blog, “Life is short and we should all use the time we have wisely.”

Brett Freeman was stabbed 4 times in the back by one of the terrorists; one of the wounds punctured his lung. As gunshots continued to ring out, a policewoman, Emily Lewis, came to help him. He told her, “Leave me now – go and save yourself.” But she refused to go and continued to hold his hand and talk to him. She stayed with him for 2 hours until he was safely in King’s College Hospital, where doctors saved his life. Brett said, “If it wasn’t for Emily, who kept talking, who wouldn’t leave me, I might not have reached hospital alive. I could see how scared she was – we all were – but she didn’t think of her own safety. I can only thank everyone who helped me, particularly Emily – I owe her my life.”

These stories, and others like them, show how, at the same time wicked men were bent on destroying as many lives as they could, others were responding in love and were committed to saving lives. One of the two greatest commandments is, “You shall love your neighbour as you love yourself.” Kirsty knew people had been seriously injured and instinctively went to help them, just as she hoped someone would do the same for her if she was in such a terrible situation. Her love for strangers cost her own life. Emily knew that if she was lying seriously injured she wouldn’t want to be on her own. At risk to her own life she stayed with Brett, who might easily have died. Kirsty and Emily’s actions also remind us of Jesus who in love, and at great personal cost, laid down his life that we might live.
Posted on June 12, 2017 by Peter Milsom