Now, five years later, Josh and Matt saved Jesse’s life – this according to the EMTs who converged on our house, rounded up the kids, secured the dogs, called me, and arranged for Jesse’s transport. 

Still I think there’s a little something else involved.

Anne Lamott once said of miracles, “It’s not just that I believe in them; I rely on them.” I can relate – just as I relate to the words of Job in the Bible: “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.”

In Jesse’s story I see a few myself.  Jesse regained consciousness after 27 hours, then developed a virulent pneumonia. The going was slow until his fourth day, Sunday, when after a particularly cranky, distressing morning, Jesse suddenly sat up, smiled and wanted to play. A week later he was completely healed.

When we called our CPR instructor to let him know our training had already saved a life, he was amazed.  Though he’d been training people for 15 years, this was a first for him. What’s more, even in his primary job as a firefighter he’d arrived on thousands of accident scenes and never seen someone already doing CPR. 

And though he himself initiated CPR on 26 of those scenes, none of the victims survived. 

That’s because it was too late.  The first five minutes after someone stops breathing are critical – too short a time to wait for the professionals. Since 75 percent of the time the person who needs CPR will be someone you know, knowing how to help means more safety for your family. 

It did for ours.

Jesse – whose name means “God exists” – almost died, and didn’t. But sometimes miracles aren’t as simple as they look. Sometimes they depend on decisions we’ve made before, and whether we listened to the still, small voice.

Thank God we decided to have our family trained in CPR!

Keep your family safe this summer!  Sites to get you started:

Information on Children and Water Safety 

Free online CPR classes