Security footage captured the moment when a Christian couple helped save the life of a choking stranger at a restaurant in Florissant, Missouri. When the video was shared on social media, the Bible verse on the woman’s shirt and its significance to the situation amazed many people.
Sarah Schlereth was having her meal at Mann Meats in Florissant when she choked on her food. Schlereth left her seat and went looking for help. Footage shows her going toward Richard and Doretta Irwin, who were from out of town and waiting in line. The restaurant later said the couple were in the “right place at the right time,” but it was God who brought them there for someone they had never met before.
“I was trying to get the food to go down, and it got stuck to where I couldn’t breathe at all,” Schlereth said. “Something just told me to go over there.”
Schlereth reached the right person: Richard Irwin. He immediately started doing the Heimlich maneuver, which was familiar to him due to his own mother’s past struggles with choking.
Thank God, Schlereth’s life was saved. But she was visibly shaken and sat back down. That’s when Richard walked over to comfort her and asked if he could pray with her. The devout Christians, Richard and Doretta Irwin, covered Schlereth with prayer.
KSDK-TV noted the Bible verses on the back of Doretta Irwin’s shirt, which can be seen in the security footage. It read, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.” – Matthew 22:37-39. The Irwins put their faith into action through their act of kindness to Schlereth.
Watch: Couple Saves Choking Stranger In Dramatic Video
Doretta Irwin told the station, “I guess it was an appropriate shirt to have on to what happened Friday,” adding that she and her husband wear these shirts when they do prison ministry. Sarah Schlereth was still in shock that day. She didn’t get a chance to thank the couple or even learn their names.
But the internet helped her track down the couple after Mann Meats shared the footage on Facebook. A few days later, the three of them finally met up at Mann Meats and are bound together forever through an act of faith and kindness. Doretta Irwin gives us an important message at the end: “We can make the world a better place if we do love our neighbors as ourselves.”
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