What to Do When You Don’t Know “What to Do”

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing at first…then I was in the middle of it all.

It's July 12, 2011 at 8pm and I'm driving from Saint Louis, Missouri to Arkansas City, Kansas for a speaking engagement.   I see a sudden flash a short distance in front of me, then suddenly a burst of smoke and sparks.  It looks like a truck ran over a car and shot it out under its rear tires.  The car looks like a missile as it is shot off the road …it is happened so quickly that by time I realize what I see, I'm in the midst of falling debris from the car.  I swerve to miss what is in the road, what is still falling, as well as the swerving cars in the lanes next to me. 

I realize I need to stop and help the people in the car.  For a brief moment I think “I’m already late getting where I need to be…someone else will stop to help them.”  Then I realize “What if nobody else had seen where the car had shot off the road?”  Then I think “if this was my family or someone I cared about, I would want someone to help them.”  By time I can safely stop, I’m at least 1/3 of a mile away from where I had seen the car go into the trees.  I grab my cell phone and start running towards where the accident happened.  Cars were still swerving to miss the debris in the road.  I have the fleeting thought, “Someone could hit something in the road and lose control and hit me.”  My concern passes and as I’m running, I call 911 and tell them what I just had just seen and where we are. 

When I get to the skids marks and the noticeable impression that the car made on the grass and bushes, I cannot see the car.  I start down the embankment following the tire tracks…I don’t see the car anywhere.   My mind starts racing … “What can I do? … “What am I going to find when I get to the car?”… “What if the car is on fire?” … “What if they are dead?”  I’m trained in CPR, first aid and some basic medical training; but not for anything like this!

As I continue down the hill the 911 agent tells me to leave my cell phone on, and then  I hear voices and a crying baby.  I don’t know how long it has taken me to stop the car and run the distance that I have.  But by the time that I get to the bottom of the hill, the people in the accident are already out of the car and walking towards me.  I see two young men, one carrying a toddler, a middle aged woman and a young pregnant woman.  The women and baby are crying.  They are cut up and have glass fragments all over them.  The pregnant woman is crying hysterically and is concerned about her unborn baby and the fact that she was driving the car.  

The lady on 911 tells me what to ask the accident victims, and tell them what to do for their safety.  The police arrive and by time I walk back up the hill to them, another 15 to 20 cars and trucks have stopped to help.  I have a feeling of pride for men and women that I see on the roadside that have stopped to help.  The accident victims are taken away in ambulances. I don’t know if the unborn child is okay.  I say a prayer and trust God to help them.  Some of the people that stopped on the roadside are picking up the debris so cars, others are waving cars away from the parked cars.  In a world filled with news about self-centered people hurting others and only thinking of themselves, I see the good side of humanity: people willing to help others.   I don't feel that alone right now.

So what do you do when you don’t know what to do?   You should do the right thing.  If someone is need of your help: you should help them.  Jesus said  “...as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.   Luke 6:31 - English Standard Version