Not long ago, I was walking through the condiment section of the grocery store and I heard a little child having a hard time breathing. Since asthma also affects my lungs, I immediately felt tightness in my own chest as I turned to see a mom frantically looking for an emergency inhaler in her purse. My hand shot to my front right pocket where my own inhaler is always at the ready.
By the time I arrived at the child, the mom had found the emergency medicine and was beginning to help the child inhale it into his lungs. The medicine began its work and my role as a bystander at that point was to pray β to pray with understanding and compassion. An asthmatic reaction when the airways become inflamed, narrow, and swollen is dangerous for anyone at any age. The moments when the lungs are unable to take air in and unable to push air out are times of pain, panic, and even desperation.
But, also moments when God speaksβ¦. One time many years ago, my wife and I were exiting a restaurant with our three children β we were exiting a warm building and moving outside into sub-zero weather. My lungs began to react, and by the time we got to the car, I was not breathing.
It was at home β two miles and six minutes away. As I lay there looking up at my children, I realized that I probably had three minutes of consciousness before I would fade away. My children were so beautiful β such gifts from God, so wonderfully made. I was so grateful to be a father; in fact, being a father was what I wanted more than anything else in the world. And there I was, lying in a parking lot beside the car just waiting for the lights to go out. Am I coming to you now?
But, what about those children? You gave them to me. If she called an ambulance it would certainly arrive long after I stopped breathing. I stood up and climbed into the passenger side of the car. My wife shuffled everyone else in and she stepped on the accelerator toward home.
