"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." ~Jeremiah 33:3, NIV [emphasis mine].
He was crawling on the floor. Toward the slightly hidden toilet in a corner where he vomited. As other drunk bodies either ignored his behavior or just didn’t have a clue, too, to what was going on around each one of them. Deputies took turn. To write on the logs to make sure that everyone was okay. And my signature was in each of those logs, too. Writing down my observation. Making sure there were no obvious signs of health problems.
“Are you okay, Mr. M.?” I yelled through a thick glass partition window. He just glanced at me. And gave me a mean look. As if I bothered him to his short journey, moving inch to inch from the door toward that corner.
Then, more arrestees came. I glanced at my watch: “2:30 a.m.” That was the usual time when it would get busy at the prison’s Intake. When officers’ cars would start piling up outside the yard to bring their “arrested males or females”.
I was screening someone when a loud banging started on the glass window.
“Stop it!” yelled one of our own deputies.
“Bam! Bam! Bam!” I looked and saw Mr. M. doing sign language, with his right thumb and index finger, giving invisible puffs to his widely-opened mouth, holding his invisible inhaler.
“Nurse! I need an inhaler!” he yelled.
“Bam! Bam! Bam!”
“Didn’t I tell you to stop banging the window?” yelled the deputy another time.
“Nurse! Nurse! Bam! Bam! Bam!” I just looked calmly and finished questioning the arrestee in front of me. As I got done, I held the others waiting in line and went really quick to talk to Mr. M. who ignored me earlier. Holding an oxygen saturation monitor, the deputy opened a tiny metal door so he could put his fingers out and I took his oxygen level: 97% [which was great!].
“Take a deep breath!” I commanded. There were no audible wheezes.
“Just rest, Mr. M. I’m sorry that I can’t give you an inhaler. You’re obviously not having any asthma attacks and you are to be released in a few hours. It is our policy not to medicate those who are being released…And stop banging on the window. I can hear you and see you!” I explained.
And the banging continued after my assessment. He was mad at me for not giving him an inhaler. He kept calling for my attention when he knew that I already heard him and that I was right there so near to his cell the whole time. As he became more sober, the banging of the window lessened and he became more cooperative. I saw him let out of his cell to gather his belongings. Yes, he was freed. But one of these days, I knew I would hear him call “nurse!” again. He was trapped in the cycle of alcohol abuse. He had forgotten his own medical needs while he enjoyed his drinking. But one day, when caught again, and surely he wouldn’t be having fun locked up without his bottle, that would be the time when he would remember he has asthma.
I could just hear: “Nurse! Nurse! Bam! Bam! Bam!”…
“Lord, forgive us for the times that we forget you when everything is going great in our lives. Then, when things go wrong, that’s when some of us start calling Your Name out loud, wanting Your attention, Your help. Thank You that You are always forgiving, always waiting faithfully for those of us who have strayed so far from You. Thank You for loving us unconditionally. In Jesus’ Name. Amen”
From the video:
Man: “It has passed too much time…since I forgot Jesus…Would He ever listen to me if I call on Him now?…J…e…s…u…s… Jesus..”
Jesus: “My children rejoice! This is the old voice that I’ve wished to listen to so much for a long time…”
STUFF
1 week ago
