Flying Meatballs

Yesterday was one of the strangest experiences in my life.  I went to meet a Pastor/Church Planter/Fellow Tentmaker named Dee Lauderdale for lunch.  I had never met Dee before.  We knew each other from the twitter world and blogs.   We met at Nothing but Noodles.  My food was so hot it was steaming my glasses as I put it to my mouth.  I had to take them off.  It was spicy too.

Dee and I are chatting about our various experiences when I look and he has this look on his face that I cant quite pinpoint.  Surprise maybe?  Did I say something stupid again?  Maybe his food is spicy or so hot it burned his mouth.  So I ask – “Dude, your food too hot?” and he shakes his head “No.”  But it looks like its really bothering him.  “Dude, too spicy?”  Not sure why the spaghetti and meatballs would be spicy.  Again, the shake of the head but this time I see a little panic.  “Dude!  You OK!?!”  Again the shake of the head.  He’s trying to tell me “NO!” but no words are coming out of his mouth.

Now Im starting to worry – a little.  Dee is a couple years younger than me, surely he’s not having a heart attack!  But he looks more and more distressed.  Almost rigid.  Then I asked – “You choking?”  All my prior experience with choking was with my kids.  I would pick them up and jerk them real hard and dislodge whatever.  I wasn’t going to be picking Dee up!  “Dude – you need a heimlich?”

Yes!  Probably 30 seconds to a minute has passed by this time.  Im slow.  And Dee stands up.  He’s over 6′ (Im 5′10″) and not small.  I’ve never done the Heimlich but I have been CPR trained in case it doesn’t work and he loses consciousness.  So im trying to remember everything I learned in Mrs. Doubtfire and I put my arms around Dee, locate his sternum, dig my fist in and say “Ready? Go!” and jerk hard.

As if I had done it all my life, we had a projectile meatball with some spaghetti rocket out onto the floor.  It wasn’t as cool as maybe flying into another table or hitting another patron and it sort of sounded like a 200lb cat yaking up a fur ball.  Then Dee was OK.  We talked about church and pastoring and ate a little slowly.  Surprisingly, no one even seemed to notice – or care.  Dee writes about that here. And strangely I never panicked or freaked out.  I just did it.

There is a spiritual lesson here.  There are people all around us who are choking on sin.  They are on their way to an appointment with death.  We may not feel like we have the right training to do anything.  Maybe you are waiting till you know more bible, or go through a “soul winning” class, or fix your own relationship with God first.  Maybe you dont feel adequate to the task.  Who cares?!   I had NEVER in my life done the Heimlich on a choking victim other than jerking a 3 year old out of chair.  I could have sat there and done nothing and watched my new friend die.  I could have called an expert via 911 and gotten instructions on what to do.  I could have called 911 waited till EMT’s arrived who actually knew what to do.  I could have hoped someone else in the restaurant – maybe an employee – would help us.  But had I done any of those, Dee would be in the morgue today.  I had to do what I knew, which wasnt much- and it saved his life.

Don’t wait to tell your friend about Jesus.  It doesnt matter what you know about the bible, or the romans road to salvation or the four spirtual laws, or how to lead someone in a “sinners prayer.”  It doesnt matter if you aren’t a preacher or a small group leader or anything.  Just tell them what you do know and how you found Christ.  You could save their life!