The American Heart Association teaches BLS so that participants should be able to recognize severe life-threatening emergencies, and give the appropriate compressions and ventilations to bring back life. They normally recommend this class for those in the healthcare and other persons who need this skill set. The course prepares you to do chest compressions, to get the blood pumping, when the heart stops. You as the compressor are responsible for pumping this blood around the body, which is keeping the person alive for the time period. This should be a skill that everyone learns because of how important it is.
This can be related to the Christian walk when we see our fellow brethren whose spiritual heart has stopped. As Christians we are instructed to reach out to our fellow brethren to help lift them up when they are fallen. Galatians 6 verses 1 and 2 says “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Here we are instructed to carry each other’s burden, as a way to fulfil the law of Christ. Sometimes we may have to literally carry someone else’s burden – very much like doing chest compressions to keep the heart pumping, while at other times it might be spiritually carrying the burdens through prayer and intercession, but either way we are looking out for each other.
Every time I think about helping another Christian along the walk, I remember Moses when the Israelites had to fight the Amalekites. When Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites were winning, but whenever his hands got weary and came down, the Amalekites would begin winning. Aaron and Hur stood beside Moses and held his hands up with the staff and the Israelites prevailed. We all need a little help sometimes because as humans we grow weary. We grow weary on our daily walk in life and more so, on the journey to heaven. That’s why we all need a Hur and Aaron to help lift us when we are tired. This is what Christ has called us to do, to bear each other’s burden. We need to support each other along this journey when we recognize that someone is getting weak in their walk.
There will be times when it’s your prayers, your testimonies, or your encouraging words that lifts someone else up and gives them the courage to carry on. You may be the one to recognize that there is a life-threatening situation, and someone needs rescuing. Just know that you are equipped by the Holy Spirit to offer support and resuscitation. As I reflected on the importance of knowing how to do BLS in the healthcare field, I wondered how many of us know how to give BLS in God’s Kingdom?
Ashea West is a Doctor of Medicine, which she recently completed after studying in Grenada and New York. She is from Manchester, Jamaica and had left her hometown to chase her dreams in the medical field. She is passionate about sharing the gospel, using whatever opportunities she is given. “I do believe in blooming wherever I am transplanted”.