How To Save A Life

Last week my daddy saved a man’s life. When I say “saved a life” I’m not using the phrase as a figure of speech. Sure there were many times as a teenager that my daddy “saved me” — the night I called him at midnight after wrecking his Pontiac Grand Am in a driveway and was stranded…the late December night I called him past midnight after flipping his Grand Am into a ditch and was stranded…. No, when I say “saved a life” I mean literally saved a life. Specifically the life of his co-worker.

My daddy works as the front desk manager of a hotel, and last week, shortly after arriving for work, he witnessed the maintenance man collapse at the front entrance. My daddy raced to his side and noticed he was turning blue and he wasn’t breathing. Time would reveal that his friend and co-worker had suffered a heart attack and was rapidly dying.

My daddy doesn’t know CPR. There was no defibrillator at the hotel, but there was an emergency room doctor staying at the hotel and my daddy knew that. He knew that because he is an incredibly friendly person. He doesn’t just do his job, he does his job well. He goes above and beyond what is expected of him. He does far more than just speak to the guests in a friendly manner. He takes the time to really get to know them and welcome them. Because some of them are long term or frequent guests, they often become his friends. In years past we have literally had hotel guests over to our home for dinner, gone to ball games, given them tours around the farm and more. When I think of my daddy and how seriously he takes his job the words of the “Qoheleth” (Hebrew term for “teacher”) from Ecclesiastes 1:1, and the apostle Paul come to mind: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10) and “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23).

Because he takes the time to welcome, assist, and befriend people, going well beyond what is expected of him as manager, he had gotten to know a guest who came to town each week to work as a contracted doctor in the emergency room, and most importantly, that this doctor was in his room at that moment. My daddy does not now any life saving measures, but he knew that a physician was near and he called out to him.

Within moments of receiving the call from the front desk, the doctor was in the lobby and working on the unconscious maintenance worker. The doctor was able to get a pulse and continue administering CPR until the EMT’s arrived and transported him to the hospital. Tonight I listened as my daddy shouted with childlike excitement when his now conscious, now recovered, now at home, co-worker called to tell him he was going to be ok and to thank him for what he did.

There is another angle to this story that is equally true. You could say that the ER doctor, the EMT’s, the hospital surgeons and nurses, they saved his life, and that would be true. But none of them would have even had the opportunity to exercise their expertise if not for the man who makes it a point to get to know those around him. My daddy barely obtained a high school diploma and spent the best years of his life doing hot, dirty, manual labor in a factory, but he saved that man’s life and I think there is a lesson for all of us in that.

Throughout history God has consistently used the unexpected or unqualified to do great works: Abram, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Ruth, Esther, Saul of Tarsus. There is an old expression used by preachers in days gone by: God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called. He doesn’t look for the able, but the willing, and sometimes His greatest works are done through those who merely show up and reach out. Thousands of hungry pilgrims were fed because a little boy with five loaves and two fishes showed up and then offered up what he had. That little boy couldn’t feed that mass of people but he could give what he had to the One who could, and he did. Also mentioned in that same story was the apostle Andrew. We know much about his big brother, and dynamic leader Peter, but we know very little about Andrew, except for this: every time he is mentioned in the Bible — with the exception of the lists of apostles — he is bringing someone to Jesus. There are no stories of Andrew healing anyone, or walking on water, or leading the church, but there are several stories of him brining people — like his brother Peter and a little boy with loaves and fish — to Jesus.

Too often we get bogged down with the fears and insecurities of our own inadequacies. We see that others are far better equipped, qualified, experienced, or talented than we are, so we assume we should stand down and leave it to the experts. We feel like we don’t know what we are doing, don’t have the answers, and fear we will embarrass ourselves, so we choose to remain on the sidelines. If these aren’t our obstacles, we sometimes find ourselves too busy or too distracted with other things to get involved in the lives of those around us. Sadly, sometimes we just don’t care. We are only worried about ourselves or a select few who are close to us, despite the fact that people around us are unconscious and dying. They are spiritually asleep and unaware of the freedom, forgiveness, life, and healing that the Great Physician can give them. They are dead in trespasses and sins, unaware that the resurrection and the life is here (Ephesians 2:1-9; John 11:25). Will we continue to walk by them like the priest and the Levite in the story of the compassionate Samaritan? Will we take the time to cultivate relationships with those around us so that they might be open to hearing what we have to say about the One who took the time for us? You don’t have to preach sermons or teach Sunday school. You don’t have to be an elder or a deacon. You don’t have to be something you are not, but you cannot be nothing. You cannot do nothing.

When I heard the story of what my daddy did I heard the words to another story and what another unexpected hero did to save lives. Israel was in exile, and a political advisor to the Persian King Xerxes named Haaman, hatched a plot to kill all of the Jews. A Jewish exile named Mordecai approached his niece Esther, the Queen, and asked her to go to her husband the King and ask for help. Esther was a former Jewish slave girl, but God had put her in a position “for such a time as this.” Esther goes to her husband for help and saves an entire race of people. If a slave girl can prevent a genocide, and a friendly hotel desk manager can save a life, perhaps God will use you to save a soul. And maybe, just maybe, all along God has been preparing and planning to use you for such a time as this.