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The Ministries of John "BJ" Hall

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Since January 18, 2015

Help My Baby!

~ By Evangelist John BJ Hall ~

I was on my way to seminary classes at Oklahoma Baptist University. As I drove south out of Chandler I crested a hill and saw a woman lying in the middle of the highway. Several hundred yards south there was a van in the ditch on my side of the road. I stopped to check on the woman. She was unconscious. I checked her pulse and there was none. I then checked for other injuries. There didn’t seem to be any, so I took her by the shoulders and drug her off the road where I immediately began CPR. I was at the time a certified CPR and Emergency First Aid Instructor/Trainer for the American Red Cross. After a few minutes, I check her again and she had a pulse.

Another motorist had pulled over and was kneeling beside me. Suddenly we heard screaming from down the road. I looked up and a young woman was running toward us crying, “Help my baby! Help my baby! I can’t get him out!” Since the first victim was now breathing without assistance, I asked the fellow that had stopped if he would keep a close watch on her. He agreed.

I started running toward the van and saw flames coming out of the broken passenger side window. The young woman ran with me and said her baby was in the back of the van. By the time I reached the van, it was fully engulfed in flames. I grabbed the handle of the side door and threw it open only to see that it was too late to save the baby.

I sat beside the road and grieved with that mother and the baby’s grandma (whom I had administered CPR for). I flagged down a passing car and asked them to contact the police and to send an ambulance and fire truck. As I listened, they began to weave together the pieces of this tragic event. The family was returning home after their one-week checkup following the baby’s birth.

Flames suddenly began shooting out from under the dash near the steering wheel. Grandma, who was driving, panicked and bailed out of the still moving van. The baby’s mama reached through the flames and grabbed the steering wheel, guiding it into the ditch.

My heart was broken that day. I was somehow changed in a way that I can’t explain. I began having recurring nightmares of fiery crashes where no one survived and I was unable to help the victims. I grieved as though it had been my own child who died. I felt guilty for not being “brave enough” to reach through the flames and save the child.

I now know that there is nothing I could have done for the baby. He was dead before I ever reached the van. I now am thankful that at the very least I was able to save the grandmother’s life by pulling her out of traffic and administering CPR. I did what I was trained to do.

I haven’t always done what I was trained to do. There are times that I don’t share my faith in Christ with the lost person standing next to me. I can’t look back and beat myself up for what I haven’t done. But I CAN make a decision today to do the work of the Lord in this day, and in every way possible. Oh for sure, I will sometimes fail. But each time I do I can pick myself up and see what I did wrong so that I will not fail in the same way again.

I may not be able to go back and help the baby in the van, but I CAN touch the lives of children today. I CAN attempt to put a smile on their faces. I CAN show them His love in a world filled with hatred. I CAN be the light reflected from the Son of the Most High God.

Matthew 5:14-16 (KJV) “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Paul — An Example

Ne'er was a man, so filled with passion,
With the authority of the law.
Doing the will of God, he fashioned,
Persecuting Christians, that he saw.

Hunting believers, traveled the world,
Nothing on earth could stand in his way.
‘Til on the road, his plans came unfurled.
He met Jesus, as he walked that day.

What a miracle, Saul, that hour,
Became an apostle of the Lord.
Now he has a purpose, and God’s power.
And travels the world, to spread the word.

This is the glory of the Savior,
He came to the world to save lost men.
Won’t you now trust the Lord to save you?
Turn from your wickedness and your sin.

If Jesus can save a man like Paul,
And make him a servant of the Lord.
‘Tis certain our Lord can save us all,
For He promised He would, in His Word.

 

© Copyright 1995 by Passages Ministries. All rights reserved.
For permission to use this poem contact Passages Ministries.

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