It seemed such an ordinary morning. Thousands were traveling back to work by car, bus, train and subway. Rush hour was in full swing when Steve boarded the express bus to the city. Everything seemed to be perfectly normal, but no sooner had they reached full speed than there was a grinding crash, a violent, jerking stop, and more than forty passengers were thrown together in the midst of flying glass and jagged steel. Two passengers were killed outright; most of the survivors were rushed to the hospital, Steve, unconscious, among them.
At Steve’s home that day all went on as usual. His parents heard of the accident with little concern; Steve was probably not involved. It was not until mealtime arrived and Steve was still not home that they began to worry. They called the hospital, mentioned in the news, and were told that two young men, victims of the accident, were there without identification. They suggested someone might come at once.
They went immediately to the emergency room and found their son delirious. All that night they and the nurses stayed with him. Part of the night it took four nurses and the father to hold him in bed. Steve was strong, and he fought and struggled frantically, screaming endlessly, “Let me out! Let me out! Let me out!” It was impossible to calm him; the more they tried to soothe him, the louder he shouted, “Let me out! Let me out!”
Not until his strength—and his voice—failed could they quiet him. Eventually the delirium subsided, and he became rational again. Then he was able to explain his panic-stricken cries. He explained that, being brought up in a Christian home, he had often heard the story of God’s good news of salvation for sinners. He knew his parents were Christian people, but he also knew that that was no passport to heaven for him, because he had never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as his own personal Saviour. He told his father that, in his delirium, he thought himself in hell, and that, in spite of his knowledge of the way of salvation, he had lost his last chance for salvation. This was the cause of that terrified cry, “Let me out! Let me out!”
Had he been in hell in reality, there would have been no possible hope that his cry would have succeeded, but it was only the delirium affecting him. As reason returned, he knew that it had been a warning from God and thankfully realized that there was still hope. As a result, he turned to the Lord Jesus, the Saviour of sinners, and found the truth of the words, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” ( John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)).
Now he is happy in the knowledge of a Saviour’s love and the assurance that all his past life is effectually blotted out, his sins forgiven, his soul eternally saved!