Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 19, 1994 TAG: 9404190173
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
But that didn't stop him from helping a person in need Monday afternoon.
Cotton turned around a potentially tragic situation when he helped talk a man out of jumping off the Liberty Road Northwest bridge onto Interstate 581.
Cotton, an associate minister at Roanoke Northwest Church of God of Prophecy on Shenandoah Avenue Northwest, was driving on Liberty Road about 4:15 p.m. when he spotted the man standing on the bridge.
``I thought he was working at the time,'' he said.
Cotton quickly realized, however, that the man was positioning himself to jump.
``I parked my car. I didn't know him, but I just felt [compelled] to try and help him out.''
So what did Cotton do?
He prayed with the man, telling him that ``storms come everyone's way in life - it's how we decide to deal with them that's important.
``He told me about some personal problems. I told him the first step is recognizing that the problem is there. Then I let him know that there are alternatives in life.''
Several minutes later, the 22-year-old man climbed over a fence and back onto Liberty Road.
``When he came on down, that just made my day,'' Cotton said.
by CNB