It was a cold snowy winters night. I was on duty as a medic, praying we would not have to get out in the cold. Just as I was getting comfortable and settled down to get some rest, our pagers went off "Unit 5 you have a priority 1 call for an approximate 15 year old male patient, unresponsive with agonal respiration's." So many times we get calls that sound serious but end up not so. This particular time my gut told me different. I knew this one was going to be serious.
As we went en route on the call dispatch gave us directions. This kid was in the town where I live and youth pastor. I had a sick feeling as I wondered who this kid was. chances were I knew him. Our response took us about 10-12 minutes before we arrived on scene. Mentally I was preparing for the worse. The one thing a medic can't do is let his emotions take over on a call. We have to keep our focus especially when its a matter of life and death.
Once we arrived on the scene, we found a teenage boy lying on the ground unresponsive with poor respiration's and vomit in his airway. One of my worse fears, I knew this kid. Not well, but I knew him. I had taken him to church camp a few years before. Immediately we did what we needed to do with his airway, iv access, cardiac monitor and such. As quickly as we could, we loaded him into the ambulance for transport.
While en route, I administered a medication that was an antidote for narcotics. It helped a little, but not enough to wake this boy up. There was also a strong smell of alcohol on his breath and vomit. Once I was able to get him stable enough and secure his airway, I prayed for him. While I was praying, God kept telling me "Reach out to this kid." I said to God "this kid is unresponsive, he has no clue what is going on, he definitely wont hear let alone remember anything I have to say. God's response "Reach out to him." I prayed and asked God how.
As I was praying, a scene from the movie "To Save a Life" kept coming to my mind. It was the scene where Chris the youth pastor meets Jake the star outside the school after a basketball game. Chris introduces himself and then hands Jake a business card with his name and number on it. I was like "OK God this doesn't make sense I'm not even sure this kid is going to live but I'll do it." I wrote a note that read "Flippin First Baptist Church Youth group meets every Wednesday night at 7pm, I hope to see you there." Then I stuck the note in his front pocket.
This kid had overdosed on pills, poisoned himself with alcohol and his friends drug him outside and threw him in the snow. He layed in the snow overdosed and drunk for at least 2 hours. All of this occurred across the street from my house. Finally someone with some sense drug his hypothermic, toxic body into their truck and drove him to his home. Then he drug his body into his house and layed him on the floor in front of his mother. His mother then called 911.
A few days later, my son called me and asked if I knew a kid by the name Sam. Sam is really not his name, that is just what I am calling him. I said "yes I know him." My son Brenton said "well Sam wants to talk to you, how do yo know him?" "I just do, I can't tell you why. give him my phone number and tell him he can call me." Brenton then said, "Do you now he is a pretty messed up kid, he is always in trouble."
Sam got in touch with me and said he had gotten the note I put in his pocket. The strange thing is, I never put my name on the note. How this kid knew who I was is still a mystery. He asked if I could meet him and talk. I agreed after his mom said it was OK.
I went to his house and picked him up. I then took him to the church where the two of us talked for a few hours. I listened and when he was done, I shared my testimony with him and then shared the gospel with him. Sam accepted Christ that day. I was awesome, that was a defining moment for our youth ministry. so many other students started coming to church because of that happened. That has been a couple years ago.
Sam is still a believer, but sadly he has slipped away from the strong walk he once had. Please pray for him after reading this if you will. God did something amazing that night by sparing his life and then reaching him through me because of a note I put in his pocket. We all tend to backslide at times and that does not mean we are no longer saved. But it does hurt our relationship with Christ. It creates a separation that can be painful. Painful for us and painful for Christ as well. Its almost like saying to Christ "What you did on the cross just isn't good enough for me to give you my all." There is no greater love than Christ's death on the cross, it is beyond good enough.
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| This is not Sam, but these are kids like Sam. This is a picture of a group of kids from and alternative school. We were able to meet them and share the gospel. All of the kids you see here accpeted Christ. sorry for the bad quality, I took it with my phone. |
John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this,
that he lay down his life for his friends.
May my life be the proof and evidence of His love!
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