On Jan. 2, 2007, Wesley Autrey performed an astonishing act of bravery and selflessness. Mr. Autrey, 51, was waiting for the subway in New York City when a young man suffered a seizure and fell onto the tracks. A train was coming into the station, and Mr. Autrey knew the man would be killed, so he quickly jumped down between the tracks and covered the man with his body.

Mr. Autrey does construction work, and he has good instincts about confined spaces. He realized there might be a chance of survival if he could keep the man still until the train passed. It passed over them so close that there was grease on Mr. Autrey's cap from the train. He was willing to give up his life for a stranger in need, yet this unassuming man felt what he did was not heroism but simply the right thing to do.

We may not throw ourselves over a person to save his life as Mr. Autrey did, but we can all do acts of heroism every day when we reach out to do our part to ease the burdens of others. As Jesus Christ demonstrated by His life and death, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends" (John 15:13).