The Blood

The day is over, you are driving home. You tune in your radio.
You hear a little blurb about a little village in India where
some villagers have died suddenly, strangely, of a flu that
has never been seen before. It's not influenza, but three or
four fellows are dead, and it's kind of interesting, and
they're sending some doctors over there to investigate it.
You don't think much about it, but on Sunday, coming home
from church, you hear another radio spot. Only they say it's
not three villagers, it's 30,000 villagers in the back hills
of this particular area of India, and it's on TV that night.
CNN runs a little blurb; people are heading there from the
disease center in Atlanta because this disease strain has
never been seen before. By Monday morning when you get up,
it's the lead story. For it's not just India; it's Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Iran, and before you know it, you're hearing
this story everywhere and they have coined it now as "the
mystery flu". The President has made some comment that he and
everyone are praying and hoping that all will go well over
there. But everyone is wondering, How are we going to contain
it? That's when the President of France makes a announcement
that shocks Europe. He is closing their borders. No flights
from India, Pakistan, or any of the countries where this
thing has been seen. And that's why that night you are watching
a little bit of CNN before going to bed. Your jaw hits your
chest when a weeping woman is translated from a French news
program into English: There's a man lying in a hospital in
Paris dying of the mystery flu. It has come to Europe. Panic
strikes. As best they can tell, once you get it, you have it
for a week and you don't know it. Then you have four days of
unbelievable symptoms. And then you die. Britain closes it's
borders, but it's too late. South Hampton, Liverpool, North
Hampton, and it's Tuesday morning when the President of the
United States makes the following announcement: "Due to a
national security risk, all flights to and from Europe and
Asia have been canceled. If your loved ones are overseas,
I'm sorry. They cannot come back until we find a cure for this
thing." Within four days our nation has been plunged into an
unbelievable fear. People are selling little masks for your
face. People are talking about "What if it comes to this
country," and preachers on Tuesday are saying, "It's the
scourge of God." It's Wednesday night and you are at a church
prayer meeting when some-body runs in from the parking lot
and says, "Turn on a radio, turn on a radio!" And while the
church listens to a little transistor radio with a microphone
stuck up to it, the announcement is made. Two women are lying
in a Long Island hospital dying from the mystery flu. Within
hours it seems,this thing just sweeps across the country.
People are working around the clock trying to find an antidote.
Nothing is working. California, Oregon, Arizona, Florida,
Massachusetts. It's as though it's just sweeping in from the
borders. And then, all of a sudden the news comes out. The code
has been broken. A cure can be found. A vaccine can be made.
It's going to take the blood of somebody who hasn't been
infected, and so, sure enough, all through the Midwest,
through all those channels of emergency broadcasting, everyone
is asked to do one simple thing: Go to your downtown hospital
and have your blood type taken. That's all we ask of you. And
when you hear the sirens go off in your neighborhood, please
make your way quickly, quietly, and safely to the hospitals.
Sure enough, when you and your family get down there late on
that Friday night, there is a long line, and they've got
nurses and doctors coming out and pricking fingers and taking
blood and putting labels on it. Your wife and your kids are out
there, and they take your blood type and they say, "Wait here
in the parking lot and if we don't call your name, you can be
dismissed and go home." You stand around, scared, with your
neighbors, wondering what in the world is going on and that
this is the end of the world. Suddenly a young man comes
running out of the hospital screaming. He's yelling a name and
waving a clipboard. What? He yells it again! And your son tugs
on your jacket and says, "Daddy,that's me." Before you know it,
they have grabbed your boy. "Wait a minute. Hold on!" And they
say, "It's okay, his blood is clean. His blood is pure. We want
to make sure he doesn't have the disease. We think he has got
the right type." Five tense minutes later, out come the doctors
and nurses, crying and hugging one another - some are even
laughing. It's the first time you have seen anybody laugh in a
week, and an old doctor walks up to you and says, "Thank you,
sir. Your son's blood type is perfect. It's clean, it is pure,
and we can make the vaccine." As the word begins to spread all
across that parking lot full of folks, people are screaming and
praying and laughing and crying. But then the gray-haired
doctor pulls you and you wife aside and says, "May we see you
for a moment? We didn't realize that the donor would be a minor
and we need...we need you to sign a consent form." You begin
to sign and then you see that the number of pints of blood to
be taken is empty. "H-h-h-how many pints?" And that is when the
old doctor's smile fades and he says, "We had no idea it would
be a little child. We weren't prepared. We need it all!
But-but...You don't understand. We are talking about the world
here. Please sign. We- we need it all -- we need it all!"
"But can't you give him a transfusion?"
"If we had clean blood we would. Can you sign? Would you sign?"
In numb silence, you do. Then they say, "Would you like to have
a moment with him before we begin?" Can you walk back? Can you
walk back to that room where he sits on a table saying, "Daddy?
Mommy? What's going on?" Can you take his hands and say, "Son,
your mommy and I love you, and we would never ever let anything
happen to you that didn't just have to be. Do you understand
that?" And when that old doctor comes back in and says, "I'm
sorry, we've-we've got to get started. People all over the world
are dying." Can you leave? Can you walk out while he is saying,
"Dad? Mom? Dad? Why-why have you forsaken me?"
And then next week, when they have the ceremony to honor your
son, and some folks sleep through it, and some folks don't even
come because they go to the lake, and some folks come with a
pretentious smile and just pretend to care. Would you want to
jump up and say, "MY SON DIED! DON'T YOU CARE?"

Is that what GOD wants to say? "MY SON DIED. DON'T YOU KNOW HOW
MUCH I CARE?"

Father, seeing it from Your eyes breaks our hearts. Maybe now we
can begin to comprehend the great Love You have for us.
~Author Unknown~

"For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for
many for the remission of sins." Matthew 26:28

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through
him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall
be saved by his life." Romans 5:8-10

"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things...But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot" 1 Peter 1:17-18 KJV