Go Ahead Turkey, Jump!

Would you be interested in a new ministry? Suicide Jumper Assistant. Don’t threaten to jump from the bridge when Lian Jiansheng is around. He will help you jump, rather, he will push you off the bridge.

Lian was an observer at a possible suicide jumper event in the city of Guangzhou in southern China. Chen Fuchao had been atop the Haizhu Bridge, threatening to jump for 5 hours.

Traffic was held up for those five hours as a crowd gathered. Chen sat on the bridge, threatening to jump. Lian offered to talk Chen down but police refused. Lian then broke through the police cordon, climbed to where Chen was sitting, shook his hand and pushed him off the bridge.

"I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interest," Lian told Xinhua news agency. "They do not really dare to kill themselves. Instead, they just want to raise the relevant government authorities' attention to their appeals."

Chen is recovering from his fall in the hospital, Lian is in police custody at last report.

There is no information on Lian. Beyond his comments, why did he feel compelled to give Chen a hand? He was probably in the five hour traffic tie-up at the bridge. He grew weary of waiting for Chen. He decided to do something, even if it was wrong.
Don’t you feel like that sometimes? “Go ahead and jump if you have to, just get out of the way. You are holding things up.” That is not very compassionate nor Christ like but sometimes we grow weary in helping the hurting. One of the hazards of serving the Lord is compassion fatigue. Several times Paul warned the church to not get tired of doing the right thing.

“But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.” 2 Thessalonians 3:13 (NASB95). See also Galatians 6:9

Here’s wishing you patience for today.