Saved to Serve

On March 30, 2021, at approximately 7:40 p.m., I was sitting in my police car at my corner on Main Street in our small, rural Minnesota, United States, town of Akeley, watching traffic and responding to any calls from Dispatch. That’s when Dispatch called and stated that they received a call from a family member stating he believed that a female relative named Kelsey was trying to harm herself in Akeley and he was on the way to check on her.

When the family member arrived at the apartment across the street from where I was sitting, he waved for me to come over to the apartments. I came quickly and observed through a window a female lying on the floor unresponsive. Immediately, I told Dispatch to start an ambulance, and then I breeched the door. Upon entering the apartment, I found the female breathing but unresponsive. I administered first aid until the ambulance arrived. I learned later that her name was Kelsey and she had become overwhelmed with problems and had come to a point where she felt empty and alone and believed life was not worth living anymore.

Three days later, I was sitting at my corner on Main Street when a white pickup pulled up next to me and the driver introduced himself as Todd. He explained that he was Kelsey’s dad, and he had just brought her back home from the hospital and dropped her off at her apartment. Todd asked if I could go and meet her and talk with her. I replied that I would certainly do that.

Todd stated that Kelsey was in her fourth year of five years of nursing school. He left for home, and I headed to Kelsey’s apartment.

Upon arriving, I walked up to apartment number three. I knocked on the door and it swung open up a little, with no response from the inside. I knocked again, and the door opened a little wider. I heard a soft voice say, “I have nothing to say.”

I knocked again and the door opened wide, and I walked in. It had opened because the door handle had not been fixed from three days earlier, when I entered with force. Otherwise, Kelsey would not have talked with the police or opened the door, I learned later.

Kelsey was standing across the room. I explained to her what I do and that my wife is a nurse. I shared that we have four children and then I asked her if she was a Christian. Kelsey smiled and pointed to her blue-colored Bible lying on the table. I asked her if I could tell her a Bible story, and she said yes. I shared the story of the Pharisees bringing a girl to Jesus to condemn her.

I said that Jesus loved her and only saw a perfect child as He told her to go out and not let the world hurt her anymore.

I pointed out to her that Easter was in a couple of days and the whole world knows what happened Easter morning. I said that Jesus could have called kings or governors to His tomb on resurrection morning, but He called His girl! The same girl that the church wanted to condemn. The first person to see Jesus on Sunday morning was His perfect child.

I then hugged Kelsey and told her that she is Jesus’ girl. We both cried for a moment, then I asked Kelsey if she would like to come to church with my family on Saturday. Kelsey asked what time it started and for directions to the church.

Sabbath morning, Kelsey was in church with a smile! She kept coming to church and became friends with our pastor, Roger Hagen, and his wife, Shannon. Kelsey started Bible studies, and on Sabbath, July 24, 2021, Pastor Roger baptized Kelsey along with my daughters Bella and Lena.

Kelsey finished her nursing degree in the spring of 2022 and was pinned by the Akeley Chief of Police at her pinning ceremony and graduated the next day at Bemidji State University with family and friends watching as she walked across the stage. Today, Kelsey is a registered nurse working in the Emergency Room at a hospital in midwestern Minnesota. 

Kelsey believes she found her home in her church family. She said this is the first church that seemed real to her and has Bible truth. It makes sense to her what the Bible and the Seventh-day Adventist Church teaches on health.

I shared a comment with Kelsey from Adventist pastor and musician Wintley Phipps. “In the darkest hour of our deepest despair is when God answers His best prayers,” he said.

Jimmy Hansen is Chief of Police in Akeley, Minnesota, and a member of the Wadena Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The original version of this story was posted on the Mid-American Union Outlook.