Jan. 11, 2010 — New life

Mike Hermanstorfer had the best Christmas in America. On Christmas Eve, he and his wife Tracy were in the hospital, and she was in labor with their third child.

Tracy went into cardiac arrest. She was not responding to CPR. Their son was delivered in an emergency C-section but wasn’t breathing and barely had a pulse. Mike watched as doctors worked on both. Son Coltyn gasped first, then Tracy breathed again. It all lasted 16 minutes.

"It has changed my life,” Mike said. “You don't take anything for granted."

Well, we do take much for granted.  And unfortunately, it often takes a crisis to wake us up to our blessings and what’s important.  Let’s hope it won’t take a crisis to change our life.

Just a thought. I'm Sid Batts from First Presbyterian Church in downtown Greensboro, fpcgreensboro.org.