HOW PRECIOUS IS BLOOD?
by Pastor Rick Sams
John Phipps realized how precious his blood was as he tried
to write a farewell to his family using the blood flowing out of his
wounds. He lay pinned in the passenger train wreck that killed many near
Los Angeles in the winter of 2005.
He scrawled "I love my kids. I
love Leslie, using a heart shape instead of spelling "love to
economize the life-giving liquid pouring out his veins. Burly firefighters
choked back tears as they described this scene after freeing him with the jaws
of life. How precious is blood!
You can�t buy it at Walmart.
No one manufactures it. You can�t purchase it online. There are no
substitutes. We need to give it person to person one pint at a time, but
needed by millions of people in the world each day. Blood is so precious,
actually priceless.
I realized this afresh sitting in a long line of
precious people waiting, wanting to donate the life-giving stuff to a dear
sister in Christ who is a part of our church. Not much later I was
stopped, while I was jogging, by a man who�s just been through a cancer
battle. He�s had many transfusions of the red stuff, yet he asked me how I
was doing. I told him "sluggish, maybe due to having given blood a
few days earlier. I was instantly convicted how "whiny this may have
sounded to a man who would love to be on the giving end instead of the
receiving. But at the same time I knew he was thankful for all who gave a
little of their life so that he might live.
How precious blood is and how
needed, both for life here and life eternal. Jesus gave His blood
willingly on the cross so our sins could be forgiven. Someone needed to
pay the penalty our sins deserved. He paid a debt He didn�t owe. We
had a debt we couldn�t pay. Jesus washed our sins away by His precious
blood. Have you asked for and received the forgiveness that only He can
give?
"…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness…it is
impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins…how much more,
then, will the blood of Christ, who though the eternal Spirit offered himself
unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so
that we may serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:22, 14).
I get
frequent e mails from our area�s Red Cross blood drive coordinator. Her
emergency messages to me are usually: how precious blood is.
It is also very
scarce right now due to many bloodmobiles being cancelled due to bad weather
this winter. Call 1-800-GIVE LIFE or log onto www.givelife.org for
schedules and details.
How precious is blood when YOU or your loved one
needs it?