On the morning of January 2, 2007, Wesley Autrey did not wake up thinking of himself as a hero. He doesn't wear spandex under his clothes and have a red S on his chest. The people he spoke to that morning did not think him an extraordinary man. Perhaps the only ones who did think he was larger than life were his two daughters, four-year-old Syshe and six-year-old Shuqui-most little girls think their dad is a hero. Soon, however, much of the Western world would know that Wesley Autrey had done something heroic.

Just before 1 p.m. that day, this fifty-year-old construction worker and his daughters were waiting for the downtown local subway at 137th Street and Broadway when Cameron Hollopeter fell into a convulsion and collapsed on the tracks just as an incoming train appeared. Wesley Autrey with Syshe and Shuqui. Wesley was not thinking about heroic things at that moment. Instead he remembers thinking, Someone should help that guy. His next thought was, I should help that guy.

Without a whole lot more thinking, he took action. With the increasing roar and the light of the oncoming train swallowing up the whole scene, and as his two little girls watched in horror, Wesley jumped between the tracks, lay down on top of Cameron, and held him down while the train ran over the two of them.

Five cars rolled overhead before the train came to a stop. Hearing shrieks from the train and cries from onlookers, Wesley called out, "We're okay down here, but I've got two daughters up there. Let them know their father is okay."

That was one heroic leap. And Wesley did it, not for a great man or a friend, but for a complete stranger, just one of millions of commuters in New York City whom he passes each day without a second thought.

There are about twenty-two inches of space in the gutter under the train. The two men took up twenty-one. Wesley's cap was smudged with grease from the undercarriage of the train. When Cameron awakened with a stranger lying on top of him in very tight quarters, he started to fight. Wesley tried to hold him down and explained in as calm a tone as possible where they were and why he was lying on top of him just inches from the high-powered electrical current.

Superman would have jumped in front of the train and held it to a stop. The Flash would have had time to run down, pick up the victim, and take him to the safety of a hospital before the train even arrived. Spider-Man would have spun a web to catch the train and bring it to a stop. While all those rescues would have been dramatic and awesome, what Wesley did is far more heroic. It is impressive to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but the leap Wesley made that afternoon is even more amazing. He demonstrated that it's not special powers that make a real hero; it's courage and the willingness to be self-sacrificing to help a desperate person...

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Sample Chapter >> Revealing A Secret Identity: What is a Real Hero in God's Kingdom? >> click HERE

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See also the article Between a Rock & a Hard Place

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