Sometimes it is the big things...

When you're pleased with something small that happens to you, like finding $10 on the sidewalk or someone holding the door open when your arms are full, you are thankful for the "little things in life." But today's stories are actually concerned with the bigger miracles that happen. 

A man in New York saved a stranger who fell onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train. Alone that would be pretty incredible, but the subway hero, as he's being called, just hopped up and got on the next train. (New York Times)

Out in the rest of the world, being kidnapped and/or held hostage can be a very real, daily fear. And usually it does not have a happy ending. But today I learned of two stories that did turn out well. The World Food Program from the UN tells a story of a little boy taken from his African village by soldiers to serve as a slave and who was rescued by a joint military effort. In South America, the last known foreign hostage in Colombia was released by the rebel group FARC, according to the New York Times. The 69 year-old Swedish man had been kidnapped from his ranch with his wife, who was able to escape the same month she was taken. The man was returned via canoe and will travel back to Sweden to be medically evaluated and reunited with his son. 

This one is pretty cool. The Daily Telegraph in London reported on four Spanish students who took photos of the edge of space using the equivalent of less than $150 in equipment. They only expected their latex balloon to rise to 30,000 feet, but it instead flew to 100,000 feet to take the unprecedented photos.

Lastly, sometimes the Good Samaritan isn't just contained in the Bible or the church walls. MSNBC told the story of a priest in LA who spent his 90th birthday among his "flock." He handed out $15,000 to the most disadvantaged members of Los Angelos society - denizens of Skid Row. Father "Dollar Bill" has been giving out money in the neighborhood for the last 24 years.