Two teenage boys from a small Iowa town headed out for a regular bike ride and ended up saving their elderly neighbor’s life.
“Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord.” This Psalm 121 verse came alive in a very real way for one elderly woman who spent a night alone on the ground with no phone and no water. God heard her and He sent help in the most unexpected way.
Just Another Summer Morning
Gunner Skidmore got up that Tuesday like he does every other day — eating a Pop-Tart and scrolling through TikTok. His best friend Kohen Chick FaceTimed him to go for a bike ride toward Muscatine on 57th Street South and that was the plan.
Nothing unusual about it. But when they passed a nearby yard Kohen spotted something that didn’t look right. “I went to the trail and Kohen was like, ‘You see that lady back there?’ I was like, ‘No,'” Gunner said. So they turned back and went to look.
She Had Been There Since 5 P.M. the Night Before
It took them a little while to find her but they did. An elderly woman was lying on the ground completely alone with no phone no water and no way to get help on her own. She had been there since five o’clock Monday evening.
She had fallen while feeding her horse the boys believe and at some point she rolled herself from the backyard all the way to the front yard just hoping somebody would notice her.
“She was scared. You could just tell because her face, she was covered in all these bugs and stuff,” Kohen said. And I just think about how frightening that must have been — lying there through the night not knowing if anyone was coming.
A Call to Mom and Then 911
The boys weren’t quite sure what to do at first so Gunner called his mom. She showed up fast and called 911 and an ambulance took the woman to a hospital in Muscatine. Gunner said it plainly: “A few more hours and she definitely would not have made it.”
His mom has been caring for the woman’s horse while she recovers and she’s already planning to bring a lasagna over when the woman gets home. That’s just good people doing good things and there’s something really beautiful about that.
Right Place, Right Time
Two 13-year-old boys weren’t out there looking for a rescue mission. They were just going for a ride. But God directed their path that morning in a way that nobody could have planned.
When they didn’t know what to do, they could have left her and nobody would have blamed them. They were 13. But they stopped. They called for help. They stayed.
So when we feel like God is nudging us toward something even if it seems small or inconvenient we should pay attention. It might be an answer to someone’s prayers.
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” — Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)
WATCH: Two Teens Save Helpless Elderly Neighbor Who Was Lying in Her Yard Overnight
