Blood

My youngest son recently cut his foot pretty bad. He had an accident with his machete. When he first came in the house and explained what happened, his shoe was holding some pressure on the foot to slow down the bleeding. When I examined it closer by taking the shoe off, the blood was pouring – it was a deep wound. I added lots of towels and pressure to hopefully slow the bleeding down while we got help. I was a bit freaked out and we loaded him in the car and headed for the ER. He received 13 stitches and thankfully he’s healing very well. It’s crazy how the blood carries the necessary clotting agents to stop the flow of blood.

The Lord gave some specific instructions regarding how His people were to use animal blood. I came across a specific statement that reminded me of the importance of blood to humans and animals. Check this out…

11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. 12 Therefore I say to the Israelites, ‘None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner residing among you eat blood.’ (Leviticus 17:11-12 NIV)

The blood racing through my body right now is giving me the ability to function as a human being. We know that the heart is the pump that keeps the blood flowing throughout our body. Our scientist and engineers have been able to replicate a lot of things that go on in our body, but blood can’t be manufactured.

I am a Red Cross blood donor and they always do a good job of reminding us that the blood bank is always keeping an eye on supply and demand. There are many critical “infrastructure” parts of our human body that keep us functioning like our heart, lungs, brain – they all need constant blood flow. Our blood is life giving to our body. I don’t think that it’s an accident that when Jesus died, much is made of His shedding blood. He gave up His physical body as the best and final sacrifice for sin. There is not more shedding of blood needed. His life was given for the life of many. He came back to life after being dead three days – that’s not explainable with science.

I’m grateful for the blood that was shed for me –even though I’m still learning to comprehend that level of love.

Pressing On!

Dwayne