{"id":4050,"date":"2019-11-26T12:29:31","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T17:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=4050"},"modified":"2019-11-26T12:29:31","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T17:29:31","slug":"youth-pastor-saves-baby-left-abandoned-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2019\/11\/youth-pastor-saves-baby-left-abandoned-car.html","title":{"rendered":"Youth Pastor Saves Baby Left Abandoned in Car"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rodger<\/a>
Rodger Prater<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rodger Prater, Youth Pastor at Abba\u2019s House of Worship Center in Oklahoma, is being hailed a hero today after finding an abandoned one-month-old baby on the side of the road.<\/p>\n

Prater was driving on a busy interstate with a van full of church youth group members after a fun-filled day at an amusement park when he made the startling discovery with his wife, Nancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just a little fella,\u201d Rodger Prater, 46, told PEOPLE. \u201cThank God we got there in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t fathom it at first,\u201d he says. \u201cThen the little boy\u2019s feet moved. I told my wife under my breath, \u2018I think I see a baby.\u2019 She said, \u2018What?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The infant was sitting inside a carrier only 10-feet away from the white line on the shoulder of the road. As Prater walked up to the baby, he began to panic as he didn’t see any movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis eyes were shut,\u201d he says. \u201cI was freaking out. I thought, \u2018Don\u2019t let there be anything wrong with him.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As soon as Prater approached, the baby woke up and started crying. They called the police, and changed the child’s diaper as they waited for help to arrive. A Good Samaritan driving along the highway stopped to provide them with a clean diaper.<\/p>\n

The baby was also found with $5,500 in cash, a birth certificate and a social security card. The mother was quickly found that day, however the baby remains in custody of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.<\/p>\n

Despite it being almost 90 degrees, the baby showed no signs of being overheated or sunburnt. Police estimated he had only been sitting for a half hour.<\/p>\n

Prater, though being called a hero, is downplaying the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I know is that God intervened,\u201d he says. \u201cOne day when the baby is old enough to understand, he can call me and I will tell him that it was no fluke that we found him. We found him for a reason. I will tell him that God has a plan for his life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rodger Prater, Youth Pastor at Abba\u2019s House of Worship Center in Oklahoma, is being hailed a hero today after finding an abandoned one-month-old baby on the side of the road. Prater was driving on a busy interstate with a van full of church youth group members after a fun-filled day at an amusement park when…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":600,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1102,442,170,1100,1101],"class_list":["post-4050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiring-messages","tag-baby-saved","tag-hero","tag-miracle","tag-rodger-prater","tag-youth-pastor"],"yoast_head":"\nYouth Pastor Saves Baby Left Abandoned in Car<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While driving a van full of church members, a youth pastor noticed something suspicious on the side of the road. It was a young baby.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2019\/11\/youth-pastor-saves-baby-left-abandoned-car.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Youth Pastor Saves Baby Left Abandoned in Car\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While driving a van full of church members, a youth pastor noticed something suspicious on the side of the road. 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