Christmas Eve always seems to sneak up on me here. I think it’s because of the weather. After seventeen years away from the Canadian prairies, it still doesn’t look or feel like Christmas.
If you have never experienced cold…like dead-of-winter-cold…you cannot imagine what it is like. That is why the story of one of the most famous toddlers in Canadian history amazes me.
February 23, 2001, Erika Nordby was 13 months old. It was dead-of-winter-cold in
Sometime during the night, while her mother slept, 13-month-old Erika Nordby got out of the house wearing only a diaper and a T-shirt. Hours later, Erika's mom noticed she was gone…and she freaked out! There could not be any way to describe what went on inside her when she found Erika, lying in the snow, frozen stiff. She rushed Erika inside and wrapped her as snugly as she could. By the time paramedics got there, Erika's heart had not been beating for as long as two hours; her lungs had long since stopped and her body temperature had fallen to 16°C (61 °F). She was clinically dead. (That may not be the kind of story you expect to hear at a Christmas Eve service…but stick with me.)
The paramedics did not give up. They began CPR, inserted a breathing tube and rushed her to hospital. One story explained how they took blood from her little body, warmed it and then put it back into her.
Just as they were about to hook up a machine that would make her heart beat, it started to beat on its own.
Within a day, Erika was eating, drinking from a sippy cup, watching TV and chattering to whoever came in the room. A month later, Erika Nordby went home, with a small skin graft on her left foot (from frostbite) the only permanent damage on her little body.
Everyone said it was a miracle. The experts said that Erika’s entire body, including her heart, had frozen so quickly that it was perfectly protected, and that once warmed up, her body was able to start up again as if nothing had happened.
This evening, with people all around the world celebrating Christmas, I want to focus on one part of that story.
Her heart. Frozen. Solid. By most definitions, dead. But in the words of Miracle Max from “Princess Bride” –
“There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.”
That is the hope that “came alive” that first Christmas and is just as alive today.
A lot of people spend a lot of their lives with hard, frozen hearts. Unlike Erika’s, most don’t freeze suddenly; it is often a long, slow process...often with all kinds of things playing a part.
If we were forced to be completely transparent, most of us would have to admit that we have corners of our hearts that are at least a little frosty.
As we make our way through any given day, things come up and we are tempted to let bits of our hearts turn cold…to God or to people…or both.
But again, “There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.” Because of that, there is hope for any heart. The hope “came fully alive” that first Christmas and is just as alive today; the hope that God gave to and through the Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel:
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and your idols. Also, I will teach you to respect me completely, and I will put a new way of thinking inside you. I will take out the stubborn hearts of stone from your bodies, and I will give you obedient hearts of flesh.” (Ez. 36:25-27, NCV)
The promise is extended to all…no matter how old or young, rich or poor, pretty or ugly, strong or weak, dark or light, brilliant or simple.
You don’t need amazing abilities or looks or power or wealth…you just need a simple, ordinary heart…one that is willing to be softened, warmed and transformed.
