On October 18, 2013 in Buffalo, New York, 37-year-old Darnell Barton was driving a bus filled with high school students over a bridge when he spotted a young woman perched on the wrong side of the guard rail. Sensing something wasn't right, Barton slowed to the side of the busy arterial and opened the bus door. From his seat behind the steering wheel, the driver called to the woman asking her if she was okay. When the young woman looked at Barton but didn't respond, he left the bus and approached her. Barton told the Buffalo News, "She turned back to look at me and then back at the traffic and that's when I kind of lunged and got my left arm around her body." Barton proceeded to talk her into climbing back over the guard rail as he guided her with his large arms. Together they sat on the pavement.

A surveillance camera shows a pedestrian and a bicyclist going by the distraught woman without stopping to help. But Barton, who acknowledges having grown up in church, said he could hear his mother's voice in his head prompting him to do the right thing. As a result he gave her some encouraging words. The two conversed until first responders showed up. Barton told a reporter "The Bible says we are to be ready in season or out of season. You've got to be ready. If you've got time to do anything you've got time to do the right thing."

When Barton got back on his bus he received a standing ovation from the high school students. Then he his route, wrote up a report, and went home. Nicknamed "Big Country" by his co-workers, there is little doubt that the heroic driver has a big heart.

Editor's Note: Actual video of the surveillance camera showing the disinterested passersby and Barton can be viewed on YouTube.

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Compassion; Kindness; Involvement; Readiness; (2) Christmas; Incarnation—"Big Country" Barton provides a small (but imperfect) picture of what Christ did for us by getting involved in our predicament, coming to us on our level, and then gently leading us from distress to wholeness.