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Amid all the tragedy and bloodshed in Boston, there are also stories of heroism and kindness.
The first acts of self sacrifice happened seconds after the bombs went off at the finish line.
"One of the things that struck me was the first image I saw was the explosion and then people running towards it as opposed to away from it," said Danielle Kosanovich, Minister of Youth and Director of Outreach at Salisbury's St John's Lutheran Church. "And yet you know in that instant that their bravery and their courage is going to save and protect someone else."
In the middle of terror, there was love. Emergency responders acted out of compassion and duty, but other volunteers also stepped up, not even knowing what they were getting into. It didn't surprise David Freeze. He's run four Boston marathons and is the president of the Salisbury-Rowan Runners Club.
"A lot of the runners, even in the situation where they had completed 23 and 25 miles, and some of them made it the whole 26.2 before they shut the finish line down," Freeze told WBTV. "They didn't want to stop there, they saw what was going on and they wanted to give more they organized and went to the nearest hospital willing to give blood even after running 3-4-5 hours."
The offering was so great the Red Cross said it had all the blood it needed. And there were more stories...former NFL player Joe Andruzzi carried an injured woman to get help, restaurants tweeted offers of free food and shelter, Boston residents offered orange juice, bedrooms, bathrooms, showers, and more.
Kosanovich sees the hand of God in these acts of decency.
"There's a great quote by Frederick Buechner that says the resurrection means that the worst thing is not the last thing and so then we start looking at the worst thing and saying but where is God active? And God is active in the way that people respond," Kosanovich added.
Social media played a big part in this with efforts to help and offers of help organized through Twitter hashtags.
And it wasn't just in Boston. Even in the Charlotte area the hashtag #prayforboston has been trending all day, meaning it's one lots of folks are using.
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