Weekly Thought – September 16, 2025
Fred moved from earth to heaven on August 17, 2007 at 9:15 AM. Three days a week for the last 8 years he traveled to a dialysis center where his blood was circulated and cleansed. The lessons he learned during those sessions were often used as illustrations in his speaking. This week he tells a personal story never before related before being used in the Elliott Class of the Highland Park Methodist Church in the late 1980s or early 1990s.
The Blood of Life
Sometimes you keep stories to yourself because they are very personal. Sometimes the deep satisfaction they reflect keeps them private. This is a story from my early manhood I have never told before – simply because it was extremely personal and very satisfying. It didn’t need any broadcasting.
When I was a young man in the life insurance business I went into a lawyer’s office where an attorney and his daughter practiced together. As I spoke with them they were obviously upset, and asked me what my blood type was. A very strange question from a prospective client indeed. But I could tell by their faces they sincerely needed my answer. When I answered his question he replied, “That is exactly what we need!” After a moment he continued, “My brother is dying in St. Thomas Hospital right now and desperately needed a blood transfusion immediately. The attorney went on to ask, “Would you give him some of yours?”
We immediately got into their car, traveling to the Nashville hospital. Without doing anything than taking off my suit coat and laying down on a cot beside the brother’s hospital bed they directly transferred my blood to him without modern processing because the need was so urgent.
He lived and expressed great appreciation for my willingness to help him. He even offered to pay me for the donation.
He and his family saw the effect the gratitude had on me. They understood I didn’t want payment. In fact, it would have been inappropriate. I never saw him again; I never heard from any of his family members, either. But I experienced total, real satisfaction.
When our souls were in need of a donation for our salvation, Jesus shed His blood. When our souls were perishing His blood provided a way for us to access eternal life. Christ gave us something that we cannot buy – we can only receive it by faith – namely His grace. Growing up in the home of a Southern Baptist pastor the hymns were a constant companion. I will always remember the booming voice of my preacher father… “Would you be free from the burden of sin? There’s power in the blood!”
This week carefully consider: 1) What does the “blood of Christ” mean to me? 2) Who has benefited from a spiritual infusion? 3) Where am I applying the power of the blood in my life?
Words of Wisdom: “Sometimes you keep stories to yourself because they are so private.”
Wisdom from the Word: “But if we walk in the light as He himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7 NET Bible)