On Feb. 26, Loraine Bayless collapsed to the floor in the dining room of a California retirement home. The 87-year-old resident suffered a cardiac arrest.
WeathersSomeone frantically called 911, and the dispatcher asked if there was someone present who could help. A woman got on the phone. She identified herself as a nurse. She answered questions calmly. Yes, she was in the room with Ms. Bayless. Yes, Ms. Bayless had fallen and was in distress. No, she would not perform CPR on Ms. Bayless.
No? The dispatcher, Tracy Halvorson, was stunned. The nurse would not perform a lifesaving act on a woman obviously dying? No, the nurse insisted. It was against the policy of the facility.
So for more than seven minutes, Halvorson pleaded with the nurse to help. She even suggested that, if she was not going to help Ms. Bayless, then she should find someone who would. “Is there anybody who’s willing to help this lady and not let her die?”
“Not at this time,” the nurse answered with professional detachment.
Soon, time was up. Loraine Bayless died while a nurse stood by and watched.
That story would be unsettling enough if it were simply a bystander that had failed to act. But a trained medical professional? A person with the knowledge and calling to save a life, who had accepted the responsibility, but who chose to stand by passively when a life was at stake? If she didn’t act, who would?
Makes you wonder what God thinks of the church, doesn’t it?
We are the people of God, entrusted with the message of God, commissioned to tell the world. We have more resources for evangelism than at any other time in the history of the world. We have the knowledge, the opportunity, and, above all, the calling. And we accepted the responsibility. God pleads for us to go. But we stand by as our friends and neighbors die without Christ.
Maybe we are confused. Maybe we think it’s against policy. The pastor has to do it. The missionary. The deacon. But not us.
But the pastor isn’t there. It’s you. So it is time to share the gospel. Time to save a life. Because if you don’t do it, who will?