During a devastating flood in Bloomfield, New Mexico, a man living under a bridge became the very reason his neighbors made it out alive.
Joseph Barrela has been homeless for about three years, and for months he had been sleeping under a local bridge. Barrela had been watching the water rise for days, and he noticed the danger before many others did.
As the floodwaters poured into the neighborhood, he didn’t run away. He went door to door to wake up sleeping families. Lonnie Campbell said Barrela pounded on their door and waited until they were awake. “We were actually sleeping inside, and then Joseph Barrela, he came and knocked on the door, pounded, made sure he waited here till we were awake,” Campbell said.
Can you imagine standing at someone’s door, waiting, while floodwaters rise around you? Most of us would have knocked once and kept running for our lives. But he didn’t.
Because he stayed, Campbell was able to get his grandparents out in time. They also saved their vehicles and their dogs, which would otherwise have been completely underwater. Barrela kept checking on other houses even after the neighbors had evacuated.
Then he saw a semi-truck trapped in the water with its lights flashing, and he thought someone was stuck inside. “After I evacuated the neighborhood, I jumped in and tried to help that truck, and I got swept away and almost died,” Barrela said.
The current swept him away. He called out for rescue, then found something to hold onto. Right there in the floodwater, he prayed. “At that time, it was time to ask, ‘Holy Heavenly Father, please forgive me for anything I did at this moment,’” Barrela said. He continued, “I know that you can forgive me eternally and save my eternal soul. But tonight, can you please save my flesh?”
Help eventually arrived and pulled him from the water. Instead of resting, he went right back to helping people. Now he spends his time volunteering at First Baptist Church in Bloomfield, assisting other flood victims.
The people he saved call him a hero, but Barrela won’t accept that label. “No, God’s the hero,” he said. “I don’t like to hear it because God is the hero. He’s the one that gives us strength.” Those affected in San Juan County can still find recovery assistance through the county’s Office of Emergency Management.
In that flood, Barrela didn’t think about his own safety. What mattered most to him were the lives of others. He had nothing material to give, but he gave his strength and his courage to save his neighbors.
The most striking part of this story is his prayer. I’ve never heard anyone pray like this in a life-or-death moment, and I was moved by how sure he was about his eternity. Can we ask ourselves an important question? If our lives ended right this second, would our souls be secure? Do we truly have that assurance?
We spend so much time and energy trying to secure our lives down here. But Jesus asked, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36, NKJV).
So let our priorities change. Let us seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33), love others the way Jesus loved us (John 13:34), and examine where our souls stand with Christ today. Joseph Barrela may not have a home here, but I believe God has already prepared a room for him in heaven. Let us also be ready, so that whenever our time comes, we can face it with the same peace he had in that water.
WATCH: Homeless Man Saves Neighbors, Then Prays in the Floodwater
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