Often the pages that summon me to the floors of the hospital in the middle of the night involve what is called a rapid response. The medical staff are circling the wagons, or in this case the gurney, and are thick into reviving the patient's heart rate, or oxygen levels. I mostly stay to the periphery, perhaps checking in with a nurse, or asking if family will be arriving soon. 

 

But one night a nurse called to ask me to come with a bible. She had a woman in the ED that was upset, and wanted scripture. I grabbed a paperback and headed to the elevator. The ED is a busy place, but people knew where to point me. I can guess why. The woman was slight in stature, and seemed relieved to see the bible under my arm. I offered to read.

 

"Yes, yes," she said. I started in psalms, and noticed that she was speaking with me. She knew the passage by heart. I went to other familiar places, and she chimed in with conviction. I was able to see past her weathered eyes, and frail legs. Life had probably kicked her to the curb a few times. But she knew that God loves her and she loved Him right back. Amen. 

 

I switched to the New Testament, and she echoed passages in John as well. Then she stood up, as if she meant to act on the words, and I got nervous. I thought the nurse wanted her to stay in bed, and I wondered what my role was in enforcing this. Probably the patient weighed no more than a twelve year old child, so I am not sure what I was afraid of. Except that I have no experience with what it is like to scrape together a living in a tough city. Would she resist me urging her to sit down? I called the nurse, who was more in her element than I was, and she gently slid the woman back into bed. I resumed reading. 

 

At that moment we were together, this woman and me. It seems likely that she has had fewer breaks than have smoothed my life, and less support. Or maybe not. But what mattered was that we both believe that God is present, even in a crowded ED, and whatever happened to her when she was discharged, she took that trust with her. 

 

Would I be so strong?