Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Interruption or Invitation?

Image result for baby changes everything

Police officers will often tell you there’s no such thing as a routine call when you’re patrolling the streets. But when Albuquerque police officer Ryan Holets responded to a possible theft at a nearby convenience store, it had all the hallmarks of a mundane assignment he could quickly clear from the call log. But, it didn't turn out that way.

As Ryan left the convenience store on September 23, 2017 he noticed out of the corner of his eye a couple sitting on the grass against a cement wall. It appeared the man and woman were shooting up heroin in broad daylight behind the convenience store. Ryan turned on his body camera and approached the couple but he wasn’t prepared for what he saw. The woman was in the middle of injecting a needle into her companion’s arm. Then he noticed the woman was pregnant. “It's not every day I see a sight like that and it just made me really sad,” Ryan said.

Crystal Champ, 35, looked slightly dazed and agitated in the body camera footage as you hear Ryan begin to scold her. She told the officer that she was almost 8 months pregnant and addicted. “You're going to kill your baby,” Ryan is heard saying on the bodycam footage.

In the course of the conversation, Champ told Ryan that she desperately hoped someone would adopt her baby. Champ says the words triggered a change in the officer’s demeanor. “He became a human being instead of a police officer,” Champ said. Ryan made the call to not charge the couple with drug possession, but he couldn't shake the voice in his mind telling him that this was his chance to help and truly make a difference.

Ryan showed Champ a picture of his wife and four children, including a 10-month old baby and in that moment offered to adopt her baby. “I was led by God to take the chance,” Ryan said. “God brought us all together. I really don't have any other way to explain it.” Champ was stunned and says she looked at him to “make sure his eyes were genuine and that I could see his soul.” Later, Ryan’s wife Rebecca told reporters, “We feel God has called us to do this.”

Image result for officer Ryan Holets

When the baby was born in October 2017 the Holets decided to name her, “Hope” and she will spend her first Christmas with her new family.[1]

What Officer Ryan Holet did in that split-second decision to adopt Hope made me think of Mary’s surrender to the angelic announcement that she would be the mother of the Messiah.

34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” 35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God . . . 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.” 38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:34-38)

In both Mary and Ryan’s situation a baby changed everything. I think what we can learn from this is that God’s invitations, often appear as interruptions. How much more inconvenient can you get than a baby being dropped into the middle of your life? God interrupted Mary’s life with an incredible opportunity. Yes, there would be adversity and heartache, but the blessing of playing a role in God’s salvation story far outweighed the trouble. It takes faith to surrender to the plan of God, especially when it’s going to involve a new set of challenges and unknowns. But if we say “Yes” to God's interruption, there is no telling what good He will bring from it.

Image result for officer Ryan Holets

-DM  





[1] Ed Lavandera and Jeremy Harlan, “Police Officer Adopts Homeless Mother’s Opioid-Addicted Newborn,” CNN, 3 December 2017 <http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/01/health/police-officer-adopts-homeless-opioid-newborn-btc-beyond-the-call-of-duty/index.html> 

No comments:

Post a Comment