Today is one of those days when I just want to close all the blinds, crawl back into bed and wait for the melancholy to pass.
It is a gray, wet, dismal day here in the Northwest. After the last couple of sunny and warm days, the rain seems especially gloomy and oppressive. But it isn’t just the rain. I had a phone call this afternoon from a pastor friend who told me he had just resigned reluctantly, painfully, from his church; the daily spectacle of the posturing of politicians holding to an ideological line while millions of people experience the pain and debilitating apprehension and fear of an uncertain economic future or face uncertain health challenges without medical insurance; the face of some senior citizens I visited this earlier week who sit in care facilities wondering about their children; international news of a cholera outbreak that continues to take its toll in Haiti and in other parts of the world; news of men, women and children cut down by evil elites bent on holding on to their power; etc. It is easy to feel low when we focus on these things.
But at the same time I am reminded of the strength and dignity and resolve and sacrifice of many of the same people and the people around them who are willing to give and share with them. Sometimes it is something tangible such as medicine or financial aid or a place to stay. Other times it is the gift of presence and encouraging words and prayers.
A while back I came across this story. Dr. Samuel Weinstein is the chief of pediatric cardio-thoracic surgery for the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York. In May of 2006, he traveled to El Salvador with Heart Care International in order to provide life-saving operations for less-fortunate children. However, Dr. Weinstein discovered that it would take more than his expertise and advanced equipment to save the life of 8-year-old Francisco Calderon Anthony Fernandez.
Dr. Weinstein and his team began operating on Francisco's heart shortly before noon. Twelve hours later, the procedure took a deadly turn. "The surgery had been going well, everything was working great, but he was bleeding a lot and they didn't have a lot of the medicines we would use to stop the bleeding," Weinstein said. "After a while, they said they couldn't give him blood because they were running out and he had a rare type.'' Francisco's blood type was B-negative, which, according to the American Red Cross, is present in only 2 percent of the population.
As it turned out, the only other person in the room with a blood type of B-negative was Dr. Weinstein. Knowing what he had to do, he stepped away from the operating table. As his colleagues continued their precision work, Dr. Weinstein set aside his scalpel, took off his gloves, and began washing his hands and forearm. Then, in the corner of an unfamiliar operating room, this surgeon from one of the most advanced hospitals in the world sat down to give away his own blood.
When he had given his pint, Dr. Weinstein drank some bottled water and ate a Pop-Tart. Then, 20 minutes after stepping away from the table, he rejoined his colleagues. After watching his own blood begin circulating into the boy's small veins, Dr. Weinstein completed the operation that saved Francisco's heart and his life.
You and I may not be in the exact same situation as Dr. Weinstein, having to give our blood, but you do have something to share, especially if you are a follower of Jesus.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the circumstances or situations around us. It is easy to give up or shut down. But God has given us a message as well as a gift or many gifts to use in the service of the church and the world. There is not always an easy or immediate solution to some of the challenges and situations we face or that others face. But if we are followers of Jesus we have been told, and hopefully believe, that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus has changed everything. That because of Jesus it is possible to move from worry to trust, from unease to peace, from a sense of abandonment and isolation to the joy of acceptance and community. These are possible, not because of our own resources, although God expects us to use what has been entrusted to us to help others who have all been created in God’s image, but because of what the resurrected Christ wants to do in and through us in a hurt and bleeding world.
Are you sharing? You may have what is needed to help. What you have may save a person life. What you have may help another person in bringing them closer to God. Are you sharing?
