God helps boy rescue injured farm worker

Jonathan Pounder, a 12-year-old boy from Sampson County, N.C., recently had a day that went from disappointment to heroism.

Pounder was sent home from school on Nov. 5 for acting up in class. While at home, he heard screaming from a nearby field. Pounder, along with his mother and grandmother, went to find the source of the screams.

What they found was farm worker Lalo Rodriguez dangling from a combine.

Pounder's mother told WRAL-TV her thoughts on her son's heroism: "I think God spoke to him to get him down there."

Rodriguez's right arm had to be amputated at the elbow; he's still recovering in the hospital.

The voice of God in Belarus

Judy Dennis of New Bern, N.C., for the longest time felt a calling to work with special-needs people. But she ended up working in retail -- until 1988, when she became an interim special-needs teacher at a local elementary school. That led to a full-time position, she told the Sun Journal, and she taught special-needs children for seven years until retiring -- or so she thought:

'I experienced burnout like many people do in jobs,' Dennis said. 'The children needing shoes tied, little tables and my arthritis didn’t go well together.'

She went on a mission trip to Belarus this March, where she visited orphanages and schools. She worked with children from 4 to 13 years old. It reminded her of American children with special needs.

'While on the trip, God spoke to me and said I wasn’t through with special-needs kids,' she said. 'He wants me to do something more with children.'

Dennis now is looking at starting a special-needs ministry for children at her church.