A matter of death and life (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

A matter of death and life

8:28am Thursday 24th November 2011

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I’ve twice been on an emergency First Aid course here in St Albans but never needed to apply my learning.

That is, until this week.

Then it happened. Someone rushed into a training session I was leading to say that an elderly man had collapsed outside and was not breathing.

Those practical attempts at CPR back on the floor at my church all those months ago swirled before my eyes in an instant – except that my mind went a complete blank as to how to start.

The First Aid booklet I always carry in my briefcase would give me the answer – except that I didn’t have my briefcase with me that day.

While in this state of panic, two former nurses in the room were on their way out of the door and I could relax.

I later heard that the ambulance crew said that their actions saved the man’s life. Those two people got him breathing again and I hope he is alive, if in hospital, today.

It made me go home, get that booklet out, and start practising CPR for all I was worth.

What if those nurses had not been there that day?

That vivid example of a kind of death and resurrection brought home to me that I serve a Lord who died in seeming failure and was raised again to life in triumph.

But it also reminded me that the Bible does not mince its words in describing us all as dead until we find life in Christ.

It’s called the Good News. It’s the ultimate CPR – and it gives eternal results.

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