Man Who Found Nadia Bloom: "God Sent Me"
The man who found a girl lost in a Florida swamp said divine intervention helped him locate the 11-year-old who had been missing for four days.
"God sent me and pointed me directly to her," James King told CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday.
Nadia Bloom disappeared last week into an alligator-infested swamp less than a mile from her family's Winter Springs home.
King said he had searched for Nadia over the weekend and tried a new spot Tuesday morning. He began calling her name and suddenly, Nadia called out. "I was yelling her name, then I hear 'What?'"
After calling 911, Bloom, who has an autism-related disorder called Asperger syndrome, was taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries, including a slew of mosquito bites.
Photos: Nadia Bloom Found Alive
"She was in remarkably good shape," King, who attends a local church with Bloom's family, said. It was amazing. She's an encouragement to a lot of people.
Winter Springs Police Chief Kevin Brunelle said he did not believe this was a case of anything other than a young girl getting lost.
"James is an absolute hero. He did a good thing," Brunelle said.
Authorities began searching for her in wooded areas near Lake Jesup, one of the most alligator-filled lakes in central Florida. The fifth-grader was last seen riding her bike and authorities became alarmed when they found it and her helmet in her neighborhood. She did have a backpack with her.
It took nearly two hours for rescuers to carry Nadia out of the thick brush and swamp.
"It all came so fast and it just shows the compassion of the human spirit. It should give everybody encouragement," Jeff Bloom said after rescue crews lifted her into an ambulance.
When asked how he felt, Bloom said: "I can't even describe it. Let's give the glory to God."
King, seen at left, told reporters Tuesday that as he and Nadia waited for rescuers to arrive, he gave her a nutritional shake, an apple and some water.
During the 911 call, King asked Nadia if he could take her photo, "so you can show how God protected you."
"Sure!" Nadia replied.
King then unfurled toilet paper around a tree in an attempt to draw attention to where they were.
Using cell phone signals and GPS coordinates, authorities found them in the swamp.
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. "God sent me and pointed me directly to her," James King told CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday.
Nadia Bloom disappeared last week into an alligator-infested swamp less than a mile from her family's Winter Springs home.
King said he had searched for Nadia over the weekend and tried a new spot Tuesday morning. He began calling her name and suddenly, Nadia called out. "I was yelling her name, then I hear 'What?'"
After calling 911, Bloom, who has an autism-related disorder called Asperger syndrome, was taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries, including a slew of mosquito bites.
Photos: Nadia Bloom Found Alive
"She was in remarkably good shape," King, who attends a local church with Bloom's family, said. It was amazing. She's an encouragement to a lot of people.
Winter Springs Police Chief Kevin Brunelle said he did not believe this was a case of anything other than a young girl getting lost.
"James is an absolute hero. He did a good thing," Brunelle said.
Authorities began searching for her in wooded areas near Lake Jesup, one of the most alligator-filled lakes in central Florida. The fifth-grader was last seen riding her bike and authorities became alarmed when they found it and her helmet in her neighborhood. She did have a backpack with her.
It took nearly two hours for rescuers to carry Nadia out of the thick brush and swamp.
"It all came so fast and it just shows the compassion of the human spirit. It should give everybody encouragement," Jeff Bloom said after rescue crews lifted her into an ambulance.
When asked how he felt, Bloom said: "I can't even describe it. Let's give the glory to God."
(AP/Orlando Sentinel, Red Huber)
During the 911 call, King asked Nadia if he could take her photo, "so you can show how God protected you."
"Sure!" Nadia replied.
King then unfurled toilet paper around a tree in an attempt to draw attention to where they were.
Using cell phone signals and GPS coordinates, authorities found them in the swamp.
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Billions of God-believers around the world are praising Him right now. Atheists, you're out-numbered, drowned out by the sound of praise.
Now be with that.
Like the old saying goes, "luck tends to favor those who work hard".
Remember, just because you can't explain something does not make it supernatural. It just means you can't explain it. Period.
With that said, I think that it is possible that "God" led this man to the girl. But, in my view "God" is merely a word that has been ascribed to an unseen force that is at work on the spriritual plane.
I think, in due time, a new field of science will emerge to help try to lay a foundation for explaining these sorts of "super-natural" occurences. Right now, we live in an age when Newtonian physics has attempted to define and predict the behavior of physical objects based on a simple set of rules. In the future, we will begin to adopt a set of rules that govern the spiritual world as well. At that point spirituality will be studied with the same sort of discipline that we currently adhere to the physical sciences.
There are plenty of miracles that take place in ordinary events every day. All you have to do is pay attention. But, it does not necessarily imply that there is a divine plan. All that is required is a set of rules that govern the behavior of spiritual energies just like there are rules that govern the physical plane.
When an apple falls from a tree, we no longer say that it is God than made it fall toward the Earth. Instead we attribute it to the law of gravity. Maybe in the end, God is not necessarily a divine plan, but instead a comprehensive set of rules the govern the behavior of spiritual energies.