On Friday, September 10, Yates will host a blood drive in the Fellowship Hall from 1:00 to 6:00 PM. If you are medically eligible to donate, I hope you will make the time to give. If not, please spread the word so others can. Giving of yourself in this way can make the difference between life and death for one of our neighbors. Our health care system remains strained by limited blood supply, and this is a meaningful way to share some of what God gave you.
I think the Red Cross saved my life, too — though not in the way you might imagine. I have never required a blood transfusion or plasma or platelets. It was nine years ago that my untreated hypertension was caught by the nurse screening me for a donation at my church. My blood pressure was dangerously high, and though they could not take my donation, my nurse whispered to me, “Please don’t wait on this. See a doctor as soon as you can.” I hadn’t developed a conscientious preventative health plan as a younger man, and so I began a whole new journey to manage a severe problem I didn’t know I had. I’m forever grateful for that day.
One special place I have found satisfaction with the Red Cross is through platelet donation. Platelets are small cells that stop bleeding by forming clots. They are essential for those fighting cancer, severe burns, disease, traumatic injuries, and many other conditions. Because of their relative fragility — they must be used within five days — platelets are always in high demand. Unlike whole blood donation, though, you are eligible to donate platelets again every seven days. And yes, you can give whole blood without disrupting your platelet donation schedule. I’m happy to talk with anyone interested about my experience and to invite them to join me.
But today I want to talk about the time it takes. Platelet donation does require time — about three hours from arrival to departure. Rather than an inconvenience, I have grown grateful for that time. This past spring, it occurred to me that I could prayerfully carry someone into the donation center with me who might benefit from a donation like mine. I decided I would make every donation in honor or memory of someone in my world who has had to contend with cancer and cancer treatment. I made a list of everyone I could name who has had to fight that battle. I quickly realized two things.
First: if I gave a unique donation in honor or memory of a friend, neighbor, family member, or church member — on average every two weeks — I would exhaust the list somewhere around the year 2028, assuming I didn’t add another name in that time. Sadly, I will.
Second: as I focused on a single person with each donation, the significance of the whole experience took on a new tone. It was as if I carried that person — that need — with me. I found I was not alone; God was there in my effort to name a deep need. It became a dynamic and powerful time of prayer.
It has been something of a eureka moment to discover that something of personal significance to me could so readily become a vessel for prayer. I have often wondered what the Apostle Paul meant when he encouraged the church in Thessalonica: “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thess. 5:17) Maybe it’s not always about finding the right words, or filling the world with an unending string of imperfect ones — but instead converting all the efforts of my life to prayer.
There is an old song by Keith Green that says, “I want to die and let You give Your life to me so I might live and share the hope You gave me, the love that set me free.” Maybe unceasing prayer is found by surrendering every facet of your life and work to the presence and work of God. In fact, that’s how the Passion Translation renders that same verse to the Thessalonians: “Make your life a prayer.”
What about you? How can all those ordinary and unseen places in your life be converted into prayer? Whether a plumber or a pupil, a realtor or a receptionist, a gardener or a graduate student — wherever you are is a prompt to pray in the presence of God. This is possible when you remember that all your days, and every minute in them, are in the hands of God.
This month, I invite you to look at your life with the expectancy that only comes from unceasing prayer.
Grace and Peace,