It was a cold, wintry night in South Louisiana. It had been raining incessantly for the past several hours with no signs of a relief. The torrential downpour had beaten against our bodies the last three calls and it was time for a much needed break. Being wet for extended periods of time is uncomfortable. Being cold and wet is a miserable, debilitating existence that is difficult to explain with mere words. I had just achieved my Paramedic certification and found myself being “baptized by fire”. My friends called me the angel of death. Not because of a lack of ability on my part, but because of the sheer severity of the calls I happened to run. It felt like I was being stalked by the grim reaper.
We had been running emergencies non stop since 6:00 AM and at 10:00 PM, found ourselves only sixteen hours into our twenty four hour shift. Emotionally drained and physically fatigued, we decided that it would be best to stop at a local gas station to refuel our ambulance and grab a quick late night snack. As I entered the building, I passed by two young men on their way out. They pointed and laughed at me in my uniform. “He looks like a wet cat!” one of them said, but only using a more vulgar noun to describe me. I ignored them, of course. I was too exhausted to do much else. It wasn’t unusual for me to get picked on while I was in my work clothes. I was only nineteen when I became an EMT and only about twenty one at the time, but I could have easily passed for someone much younger. Their high jinks continued for several moments and as they continued their witty repartee, one of them shouted mockingly, “Hey, man! I want you to save my life tonight!” Then off into the rain they went. Both laughing and full of life without as much as a single care in the world.
Not twenty minutes later, we received a page for an emergency on Raven Street. It was a ”man down” call. As a Paramedic, there are few things as frustrating as being summoned to this type of emergency. As a pre-hospital provider it is our job to be prepared for the unexpected. However, the vagueness of this call’s description opens up the possibilities for just about any type of emergency imaginable. It could be a cardiac arrest, a diabetic emergency, or even some type of trauma. The only other information dispatch could give us was that it was a signal “H” or “Hazard” call. This basically means we needed to standby out of harms way a block or so from the scene until it was deemed safe by law enforcement.
Several tense moments passed as we watched dark navy uniforms being silhouetted by brilliant blue flashes from the light-bars stacked on their police cars. Their shadowy figures danced back and forth across the street like some strange, abstract ballet. Secretly I hoped it was a false alarm. I prayed that it was just some drunk that had fallen in a ditch or someone who wouldn’t need our care. A mans voice broke through the static on our radio. It was the police and they sounded very anxious. “Hey, guys it’s bad! You need to get in here, now!” I cursed the day and ordered my partner to enter the scene.
As we approached, we could see a car rammed into a tree just off the sidewalk. Its front end was smoking, and the two front wheels were elevated off the ground and still spinning. There was a massive indention where the hood had been displaced. The closer we came, the more details became visible through the raging thunderstorm. There were splashes and streaks of crimson on the windows and the car was riddled with bullet holes from the front end to the back. We suddenly realized this was not an accident, but something much more. The patients were trying to escape a drive by shooting , lost control of their vehicle, and collided with the tree.
A young mans body fell out of the car as we opened the door. He stared passed both of us into the heavens as if looking for the stars through the nimbus clouds above us. Paramedics call it the stare of death. Its usually an ominous sign of things to come. He had a faint pulse and agonal respiration’s, but if we didn’t act fast we would lose him. He had multiple penetrations to his head, neck, and torso. In fact I could actually palpate a bullet that came to rest underneath his skin between his skull and scalp.
“Medic!” someone shouted behind me. “You have another one over here!” A man was laying in the street with similar injuries across his thorax. Not even the heavy rain could wash away all the blood he was losing to the pavement. He had a bullet wound that made its entrance to the anterior portion of his neck. Every time he took a breath, he would exhale a plume of warm air from its opening. We quickly decided to call for another ambulance and divide the treatment of the patients until the second unit arrived. I stayed with the patient in the street while my partner worked the young man in the car.
With the help of the fire department, I loaded my patient in the ambulance and began treatment. He writhed in pain and trembled violently from a combination of cold and fear. I applied an occlusive dressings over the wounds to his neck and chest and started two large bore IV lines to bring his rapidly falling blood pressure within normal limits. I placed him on high flow oxygen and covered him with a blanket. He was sliding into decompensated shock. The compensatory mechanisms his body used to balance sudden blood loss had begun to fail. He desperately needed to get to the hospital.
After what seemed like an eternity, the second ambulance arrived on scene. My partner and I turned his patient over to them and we rapidly transported our patient the hospital. The entire event took place in less than ten minutes. Even though I didn’t make the connection that night, the next day I realized they were the same two young men that asked me to save their life. I sometimes wonder If I had been able to tell them of the horrific events of their future before they occurred if they would have chosen a different road home.
Even though I have changed significant details to comply with privacy laws, this story was based off of an actual call I ran several years ago. When I think back on that night, it reminds me of something I read called Pascal’s Wager. The title may sound foreign to you, but I’m pretty sure you have heard someone quote it before. Originally suggested by Blaise Pascal, Pascals wager basically states that, even though the existence of God cannot be determined through intellectual reasoning, a person should “wager” as though God exists, because living life accordingly has everything to gain, and nothing to lose.
Even though Pascal didn’t factor in the need for sincerity in our worship with God, he does make a valid point. If I live a life for Christ and there is no God, then I have lost nothing. But if I live a life contrary to His will and there is a God, then I have lost everything. As Believers and non-believers alike, we have a decision to make. This is what Joshua had to say to the Israelites;
14 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:14-15 NIV
Why is it important to accept Him as Saviour? Lets take another look at a few passages of scriptures from the Bible.
5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:5-6 NIV
It says NO ONE comes to the Father except through Jesus. NO ONE. So how do you come to Jesus? Through Salvation. What is Salvation? I’m glad you asked! Sometimes called being saved or accepting Christ, Salvation is in fact deliverance from the power and penalty of sin. It comes from Christ’s Sacrifice on the cross for our sins. Romans 10:9-10 Explains how we except Christ as Lord and Saviour.
9That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Romans 10:9-10 NIV
Salvation is the belief that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and that, by the power of God rose from the grave just as he said he would. It’s choosing to live a life for Christ and not one that is contrary to God’s will. Who can receive Salvation, you ask? Salvation is for EVERYONE! Lets take a look at the book of Luke.
9“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:9-10 NIV
There are too many people in our society that stand and mock the very Savior that has been sent to rescue them. They choose what they think is the easy road without considering the consequences of their folly. Then, when they are at the point of obliteration or are facing an insurmountable trial, they cry out to Him in need of deliverance. Wouldn’t it be much greater for us to live the life He intended rather than trying to bank on His forgiveness to enter into Heaven? Isn’t it greater to trust in His direction and to actively seek His fulfillment rather than spending our lives chasing after selfish pleasures and wasting our life on superficial desires that can never be satisfied? We should be cultivating a relationship with our Heavenly Father not rejecting his direction. God knows “the Beginning from the end”, but He has given us free will. We have the ability to chose where we will spend eternity. Have you made the right decision? Be Blessed, My Friends. Be an Overcomer!
Bro. Jason Z. Hunt
Memory Verse: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:5-6 NIV
Memory Word: “Salvation”: deliverance from the power and penalty of sin; Redemption.
Inspiring Music: “King of Kings” (He’s a Wonder) by Cece Winans, “Restore” by Jessica Green, and “Bless the Lord” (Son of Man) Tye Tribbett & G.A.
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