Frisbees, Seizures, and Poison Control…

One thing you can generally never say about ministry is that it is boring.

My big ministry emphasis last night was getting out the frisbees with the GOSPEL message link. I was getting a huge response from students. I even had a few adults ask for a frisbee. I gave out about 50 more than I really expected to on a Tuesday night at the fair. I am praying that many families are changed by simply getting a frisbee…

Then it happened.

I was just getting ready to hand out the last one for the night, and a 9 or 10 year old girl that was walking past collapses on the pavement in front of me. At first, I thought she just tripped, then I saw that she stiffened her legs, making me think “she’s having a seizure in a really bad place”. Just then her friend (also 9 or 10) says”she’s having a seizure and I know where her parents are, I’ll get them”. So I stand there with the other 2 or 3 girls in that group, with an elderly lady that was walking by. The seizure only lasted about a minute, and we helped her up off the ground as her dad was running up to hold her. Everything seemed to be under control, so I walked away and went about my business.

About 20 minutes later, I was walking through the Commercial Building (where all the business/organization booths are) and a lady stops me. She thanks me for staying by that little girl and making sure everything was ok. She goes on to explain that the girl is her neice, and her family runs a Caramel Corn booth, and they wanted to thank me by leaving a bag for me at the Church Booth (they noticed the Church name on a frisbee..). I thought it was awesome that even in a rural area that someone would take that effort to hunt someone down at a county fair to say thanks. It really blessed me.

That alone was enough for an eventful night, but yes I did mention Poison Control…

One of the booths was giving away bottles of hand sanitizer on a little lanyard. They were predominately giving them to kids. A really great idea, considering the amount of animals, dirt, rocks, and other stuff at the fair. My 2 year old got one, like her older brothers, and she thought she was big stuff. Had it on her neck for about 2 hours at the fair, never bothered the lid. I even checked one to see how solidly it snapped on. I was satisfied the lid was secure. I underestimated the power of a child’s upper jaw. I think that they could probably open one of those 5 lb food service cans of mixed vegetables with their teeth, if given the chance.

In the 2 minute drive (we live less than 2 miles from the fairgrounds) she managed to get the hand sanitizer all over her clothes and car seat. Then I looked and saw some on her chin, and realized that she used her mouth to open it, and probably ate some in the process. I asked her if she got any in her mouth, she said she did. I quickly call to the booth where my wife was packing up her stuff for the night, and told her what happened. She asked a lady next to her at our Church booth, and I hear in the background “there’s an EMT over there”…

So my wife explains what happened, he asks if the little girl is acting strangely or lethargic, I said no, then he instructed me to call Poison Control, even though she would probably be fine. I called Poison Control, and they said that hand sanitizer probably doesn’t taste very good, based on what’s in it, and little ones get the taste in their mouths and don’t ingest much at all, because it tastes so bad. They then instructed me to give her something sugary to drink (right before bedtime!) to make sure the Blood Sugar doesn’t drop. Everything turned out fine.

I was exhausted after last night. I slept well. Ministry is NOT boring…

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