Long Enough Arms

[453 words] A group of students from Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tennessee, traveled to the Dominican Republic for a Spring Break mission trip. The group conducted a Vacation Bible School program at a children’s home in Bobita. After their final day of work at the children’s home, team members went to see the ocean. Tragedy struck. Shane Ruiz, 19, and two other students were walking along the beach in knee-deep water when they were hit by a large wave. Shane was swept out into the ocean by a strong undertow. Team members and Dominicans on the beach spent the next three hours attempting to rescue Shane, but were unable to reach him. A Bible professor from FHU relayed these events to the chapel assembly at the Faulkner University Lectureship in Montgomery, Alabama. With great emotion, he said that many desperately sought to save Shane, but “their arms were just too…