Blood Donation

In her book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anne Lamott recounts a story told by Jack Kornfield of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. it’s about an eight-year-old boy whose younger sister was dying of leukemia. He was told that without a blood transfusion she would die. His parents explained to him that his blood was probably compatible with hers and, if so, he would be the blood donor. They asked him if they could test his blood. He said, “Sure.” They did and learned it was a good match. They asked if he would donate to his sister a pint of his blood because it could be her only chance of living. He said he would have to think about it overnight. The next day he went to his parents and said he was willing to donate the blood. So they took him to the hospital where he was placed on a gurney beside his six-year-old sister. Both of them were hooked up to IV’s. A nurse withdrew a pint of blood from the boy, which was then eventually transferred to his sister’s IV. The boy lay on his gurney in silence while the blood dripped into his sister, until the doctor came over to see how he was doing. Then the boy opened his eyes and asked, “How soon until I start to die?”

Everything Starts New?

Illustration for our new life in Christ, Romans Ch 6.

 

https://www.gocomics.com/culdesac/2007/12/31

Purified in the Presence of God

The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the Church is famishing for want of His Presence. The instant cure of most of our religious ills would be to enter the Presence in spiritual experience, to become suddenly aware that we are in God and that God is in us. This would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness and cause our hearts to be enlarged. This would burn away the impurities from our lives as the bugs and fungi were burned away by the fire that dwelt in the bush.

from The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer

Crucified with Christ

There must be a work of God in destruction before we are free. We must invite the cross to do its deadly work within us. We must bring our self-sins to the cross for judgment. We must prepare ourselves for an ordeal of suffering in some measure like that through which our Saviour passed when He suffered under Pontius Pilate.

from The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer

Quickened to Life

That a saving work must first be done in the heart is taken for granted here. The spiritual faculties of the unregenerate man lie asleep in his nature, unused and for every purpose dead; that is the stroke which has fallen upon us by sin. They may be quickened to active life again by the operation of the Holy Spirit in regeneration; that is one of the immeasurable benefits which come to us through Christ's atoning work on the cross.

from The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer

Illustration: Commitment

from The Newsletter of Preaching Magazine | April 27, 2023

A nurse shared this story of faithfulness: It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman, in his 80’s, arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He stated that he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him.

I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation. I asked him if he had a doctor’s appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer Disease.

As we talked, and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. I was surprised, and asked him. “And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?”

He smiled as he patted my hand and said. “She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.”

God Who Dwells in an Unapproachable Light

by Francis Chan, Letters to the Church p.34-35: 

Sacred Mystery

There is no greater honor on earth than to be part of God’s Church. 

When was the last time you were awestruck by the fact that you are part of Christ’s body? Have you ever marveled at this privilege?

“For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.”  Ephesians 5:29-30

Every believer needs to stare at those verses long enough to be stunned. I mean really stunned. Paul referred to it as a profound mystery.  If achievement is your idol, you won’t make time for mystery. You will rush to the next sentence so you can finish this book rather than meditate on the miracle that you are a human being who is currently joined to God “who dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Tim. 6:16). 

“This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”  Ephesians 5:32

Slow down long enough to marvel. 

The sun is ninety-three million miles away, and you are unable to stare at it. You obviously can’t touch the sun and live, so how is it possible that we are currently attached to the One who shines brighter than the sun?  High angels cover themselves with their wings in His presence (Isa. 6:2), yet you are a member of His body.  Why would Someone so extraordinary choose to care for you like His own arm? 

Please tell me you didn’t just keep reading.  Please tell me you paused for even a minute to worship. You can’t be that busy.  It’s no wonder we aren’t known as those who “rejoice with joy that is inexpressible” (1 Peter 1:8).  We don’t make time to mediate on His mysteries. 

Bonhoeffer’s final Christmas letter to fiancée Maria von Wedemeyer, December 19, 1944

Written while held in a Nazi concentration camp:

I have had the experience over and over again that the quieter it is around me, the clearer do I feel the connection to you.  It is as though in solitude the soul develops senses which we hardly know in everyday life.  Therefore I have not felt lonely or abandoned for one moment.  You, the parents, all of you, the friends and students of mine at the front, all are constantly present to me . . . Therefore you must not think me unhappy.  What is happiness and unhappiness?  It depends so little on the circumstances; it depends really only on that which happens inside a person. 

From God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas, Dietrich Bonhoeffer