By Stephanie Ellison

I have always been a curious person. I notice things around me. Maybe it is because I am a writer and storyteller by nature, but my eyes tend to wander toward the little stories happening around me. In the middle of watching the volleyball game, something across the gym caught my attention. I looked over and saw what appeared to be someone doing chest compressions.

I paused for just a second and watched closely. Then I realized, she really was doing chest compressions.

There was some commotion, but there was also still a volleyball game happening. I didn’t know exactly what had happened or who everyone standing around was because we are new to Abilene Christian School. At the same time, I also didn’t want to be the person who assumed, ‘Surely somebody else has it handled’.

So I got up. Walked fast towards a grandmother receiving CPR, her eyes fixed, lips blue and no pulse could be found.

Every moment counts so I asked, “Has someone called 911?” Yes. “Do you have an AED?” Yes it’s on its way. Then I asked the only other question I knew to ask, “Is there anything specific you need me to do?”

One of the moms looked at me and with a quiver in her voice she said, “Pray.”

So that is exactly what we did.

Another woman and I held hands and began praying for this woman who came to see her granddaughter play. We also helped make sure the children were cleared from the area and that the exits stayed accessible. I asked one gentleman to go outside and wait for the ambulance, while someone else covered another entrance. Then we stood there, watching the doors, praying, and occasionally looking back to make sure the people performing CPR weren’t becoming too exhausted.

As they started the AED everyone backed away as they shocked this grandmother’s heart, and I just kept praying. God, please protect this woman, her family, and those working to bring her back to life. Protect her heart. Please let her stay Lord.

When I first walked over, she was pale, with no pulse. But after CPR and the AED, I watched as she began making eye contact. She couldn’t speak and appeared very confused, and they were still working desperately to help her, but miraculously there were signs of life where moments before there had been such terrifying uncertainty.

Then the ambulance arrived. The woman who had been praying beside me ran with me to the doors and held them open so the firefighters and paramedics could get the stretcher inside. I watched this woman’s daughter-in-law trying to figure out where she needed to go, and I helped guide her through the right door while silently praying for her, too. Then, almost unbelievably, we all went back into the gym. Our daughters were still playing volleyball.

We sat back down in the stands carrying what we had just witnessed while life somehow continued around us. Many were protected from the trauma of that moment.

By complete accident, I ended up sitting near the woman who had started CPR. Her name was Beth. I leaned over and asked, “how does it feel to save a life like that🥹💕?You handled that really well.” That is when I learned she was a nurse.

Then another mom, Kim, the one who had looked at me during the emergency and asked me to, “Pray”, sat down next to me and told me that she knew who I was. She had heard me speak before, and as we talked, we realized our children went to youth camp together. She apologized for asking me to pray and then said, “I just know you are a person of faith and it’s the only thing I could think of.” I told her I was honored to pray and appreciated her asking me to.

So there we were, a group of people who hadn’t all known one another when we walked into that gym, sitting together watching our children play volleyball after witnessing something none of us expected to see.

I cannot stop thinking about it. Two students from ACS noticed a grandmother in distress. They acted quickly and called for help. Beth and a team came together and acted quickly. Beth knew how to do CPR and had the courage to immediately begin when no pulse was found. Someone called 911. Someone found the AED. Someone cleared the children. Someone watched one door. Someone watched another door. Someone waited for the ambulance. Someone held the doors open, and someone said, “Pray.”

So we prayed. Together.

Today reminded me that community doesn’t always look like a carefully planned gathering. Sometimes community is a group of people sitting in bleachers cheering for their kids and sometimes, without warning, those same people become the hands that perform CPR, the feet that run for an AED, the voices calling 911, the people clearing a path, the hands holding doors open, and the strangers holding hands in prayer.

Sometimes we come together to watch a game. Sometimes we come together to watch God use our hands and feet to help a precious grandmother stay.

This world is full of beautiful moments. Some are joyful. Some are terrifying. Some are bittersweet. Some remind you just how quickly an ordinary Tuesday can become something you will never forget.

So hug your people. Tell them you love them. Say the thing you’ve been meaning to say. Be grateful for the ordinary moments, the volleyball games, the conversations in the bleachers, the drives home, the noise, the laughter, even the chaos.

Because ordinary moments are not ordinary at all.

I am incredibly grateful for nurse and three doctors who jump into action, strangers who become a team, people who know how to help, people who are willing to pray, first responders who come running through the doors, and a God who is present right there in the middle of all of it.

Be curious. Help strangers in distress and get to know your neighbors!

Please join me in continuing to pray for this beautiful grandmother and their family who walked into a gym today expecting nothing more than to watch a girl they love, wear her pink jersey play volleyball.