#8 The day I saved a man's life...
On being a disciple that understands = SHOW + TELL
Back in my early twenties, a young man asked me a question that every Christian knows they should be thrilled to hear, but deep down, feels petrified about when they do.
“Will you disciple me?”
To be honest, I had very little idea about what that actually meant. There are quite a few stereotypes that spring to mind when we think of the word discipleship, aren't there? My first thought was that he wanted me to follow a specific programme, in a fixed way, at a set time. I imagined something like:
Sitting down and going line by line through the Bible with him.
Answering all his deepest doubts about faith.
Counselling him through some intense pastoral issue.
I wouldn't say that I felt very equipped to do any of that.
So I offered him a solution I thought might just work for the both of us.
“You want me to disciple you? Okay… Let’s go for a walk.”
So that night we went for a stroll into Loughborough town centre which was very close to my house at the time.
The Incident…
As we ambled along, I had every intention of asking him clever questions like:
What are your goals in life?
Tell me the last time you read your Bible?
What’s your favourite sin (jokes)!
But before we got beyond small talk something crazy happened…
Barely three minutes into our town-centre walk, on an otherwise quiet night, a sudden commotion arose in the street ahead of us…
What happened next may be upsetting for some readers.
It was like we entered a movie scene.
The first thing I noticed was a shop window completely smashed open with glass spread everywhere. But that wasn't the worst of it.
I spotted the outlines of two people brutally wrestling on the ground!
We anxiously moved closer to see what was going on.
A young woman was violently struggling with an older man. She was clearly dominating the fight. Her hands were wrapped around his neck and she was squeezing as hard as she possibly could. He gasped and spluttered on the floor like he was drowning on dry land. In the middle of a blind rage, the woman repeatedly screamed into the man's bloodied face whilst continuing to tighten her grip;
“I’m gonna kill you Birdie!”*
“I’m gonna KILL YOU, BIRDIE!”
“I’M GONNA KILL YOU, BIRDIE!”
We were now in the twilight zone.
I can’t remember if I said it out loud or in my heart, but in that moment, all I could do was pause, take a deep breath, and pray, “GOD HELP US!”
I truly believe God did.
I took a second look at the woman’s face. From somewhere deep inside, I suddenly remembered I had seen her before. Wasn’t this one of the homeless girls who sat on the street corner in town? Information was forming foggily in my head like a download from a different place. Not only did I recognise her face, but I thought I might kind of know her name, too.
I instinctively said it out loud.
“Melissa! ”*
No response.
“MELISSA!”
Somehow, in the middle of her madness, Melissa came to her senses. Due to the confusion of hearing a stranger call her name she looked up.
Melissa let go of Birdie's throat.
As her hands loosened their tight grip on his neck I heard a harrowing sound that I will never forget.
A deep and prolonged “HISSSSSSS…..” came out of his body like a deflating air bed.
It was the rush of oxygen refilling his lungs after they had been out of action for so long. There was no doubt if we hadn’t been in the right place at the right time, we would have read about it in the papers the next day. The man had been seconds away from being strangled to death.
Melissa stood up, complained about something that this so-called Birdie had stolen from her, and stormed off into the night.
“Thank you so much,” Birdie eventually said after catching his breath and nursing a fresh wound on his forehead. “I thought she was going to kill me that time.”
That time! I thought to myself. How many times has this happened before?!
Compassion then filled our hearts as we comforted him and began to hear a bit of his story. He was wounded both emotionally and physically from the trauma of the event.
As we started to go and search for help (there were less mobile phones back then), almost exactly on cue, a random police officer walked around the corner. Thus followed a retelling of the whole experience and handing over the follow up to a professional.
By the time we had finished sorting everything, we had walked less than half a mile, and our discipleship time was officially over. The young lad had said very little but watched me like a hawk during the adrenaline fuelled crisis.
The Aftermath…
“Are you okay?” I asked him as we started to walk home.
He looked a little shell shocked as he began to process what had just happened:
“I can’t believe you just saved that guy's life?”
I guess I did.
“How did you know that girl's name?”
I told him it came from somewhere deep inside.
“Does this kind of thing always happen to you?”
No. It’s not my normal Tuesday night.
As we finished our walk, I apologised that we had so little time for any “discipleship” to take place. But nowadays I wonder if that was really the case.
Perhaps seeing how I dealt with the situation, watching first hand as God clearly intervened to remind me of a woman's name I barely knew, and observing how I had acted in a crisis, had taught him more than my words ever could.
DISCIPLESHIP = SHOW + TELL.
When Jesus called his disciples to follow him, he wasn't inviting them to a 7-step process; he was beckoning them to a step-by-step journey with himself. He ‘walked the talk’ allowing others to see how his faith, hope, and love, played out in real time.
I guess that’s the thing about discipleship; we often think we need to have the right programme, be the right person, or say the right words. But I’m not sure that’s what people are really looking for. They want to know more of YOU. And through knowing more of you they can discover more of Christ.
People are curious to see how God works in and through your everyday moments. Even when some of those moments are more dramatic than others!
Let others watch your life.
What does following Christ practically look like for you? How do you deal with the highs and lows? What happens when the unexpected comes your way? How do you keep God in focus when you find yourself under pressure? As you show and tell who God is in your life, you can help someone take a step towards Jesus.
So, who could you invite to go for a walk today?
Fascinating Dave! 👍
I remember when this happened!