What’s the Score?
Rocky and Lisa Wells are Bama fans. Whether or not you like the University of Alabama football team is not the point of this article. There is a much more important message…
As the football season progressed, it appeared that the University of Alabama might play in the Sugar Bowl and be in contention for the title of National Champions of the 2014-15 season. Even though it was several weeks before the game would actually be played, Rocky jumped at the opportunity to buy tickets to the Sugar Bowl at face value, even though they were in the upper deck. At the end of the regular season, Rocky & Lisa’s hopes were realized: Bama was to play Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. The winner would play the winner of the Oregon/Florida State game in the National Championship.
On New Year’s Day of 2015, game time finally arrived. Rocky & Lisa travelled down to New Orleans from their home in Mobile, AL. They went into the Superdome when the gates opened at 5:30 PM, walked up the long, winding ramp to the upper deck, and awaited the 8:00 PM kickoff.
During the first half of the game, Bama was playing well and winning, but Rocky began to feel badly. Rocky later recalled: “Toward the end of the first quarter I started having a dull ache in my jaw and felt unusually tired. This went on for a few minutes and seemed to get worse. I told Lisa that I was going down to the concession [and that] I didn’t feel right. She followed me down… By the time I walked the 11 rows down to the concession area, I felt really weird and could not stand up. I immediately sat down on the floor with my back to the wall next to a concession stand… By that time my chest was starting to hurt and I told the concession lady to please call first aid. I was fortunate that the first aid office was only 100 feet or so away.”
The paramedics took Rocky’s blood pressure (which was very high) and performed an EKG. When the results of the EKG were found to be inconclusive, they loaded Rocky and Lisa into an ambulance that took them to the Tulane Medical Center, which was only a few minutes from the Superdome.
When they arrived at the Hospital, Rocky was rushed to an Emergency Room where he was prepped for the Heart Catherization Lab. Dr. Alvaro Alonso and his Fellow performed the catherization and discovered that Rocky had suffered a heart attack due to a stent thrombosis. Rocky relayed the doctor’s explanation: “He indicated that this is a very rare condition in which a blood clot forms inside of the stent as a result of discontinuing blood thinners. [Rocky had a previous heart attack and stent placement just over a year ago.] He said that it is protocol to stop blood thinners after about one year after implantation but that in a very small percentage of patients (about 1 out of 200), this can occur. He also indicated that I was very fortunate in that 35% to 40% cases are fatal.” But Rocky, thanks be to God and the quick response of caring professionals, is doing well!
But what about the game???
Listen to Rocky: “Before I left [the Cath lab], Dr. Alonso said that he was also an Alabama fan and asked if I wanted to know that the score of the game since it was almost over. That is when I told him ‘I couldn’t care less.’ He laughed and said that there was only a few minutes left and it didn’t look good [for Alabama]. That didn’t faze me at all. I was still alive, which is the only thing that mattered to me that night. I would live to be able to hug my wife, my children and grandchildren.”
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He’s right, isn’t he?
What matters most in life is not the score of a game, but our relationships with family and friends, and the ability to live to express our love and appreciation for them.
And what’s MOST important is our relationship with God, for it is He who provides salvation and eternal LIFE to those who will accept His offer on His terms.
God loves us so much that He gave His Son to die on the cross for our sins (John 3:16). God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Christ (Acts 16:30-31), turn from sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). He will continue to cleanse from sin, those who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7).
So, what’s the score? Not the score of some ballgame, but what is it that is most important in YOUR life?
What IS (or should be) most important is your relationship with God.
Won’t YOU accept His offer of salvation and eternal life?
David A. Sargent
