How Bone Marrow Transplant is like Evangelism

 

I don’t even know his name. He is a 39 year old male who is dying from acute myelogenous leukemia, a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. What will save his life is a bone marrow transplant from a donor. Recently I discovered that I am a perfect match for this patient. After reading, listening, signing, and offering blood samples, (I began to feel like a soda fountain!)  I will offer my life saving marrow for this patient on Sept. 3^rd. 

Bone marrow transplants are not what people perceive. Today, to be placed in the registry, it only takes a simple cotton swab to get your tissue sample. My offering to the patient is to take a medicine by injection for 5 days (doctors have been using this on leukemia patients for over 20 years) to boost the stem cells in my blood. On the day of collection, I will be hooked up to a machine that will separate my blood, they harvest the stem cells, and the rest goes back into me.

How do I feel about being able to take precious time and blood to save a person’s life? I am elated!  And yet there is seriousness to it.  Once I begin my injections, the patient is undergoing chemo therapy to destroy every cancerous cell in his body. If he does not receive my stem cells, he will die. There is no backing out once the process has begun.

What if evangelism is like this?  People around us, people we don’t even know are dying spiritually, every day. We have this opportunity to participate in giving life by sharing our faith with others.  If we refuse, everybody loses.  Spiritual death occurs.

 My prayer for the church is that more people will offer the life transforming news of Christ to others.  Let’s getting going, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”

Comments

[Adel Thalos]

Good post Eric. But what about the reality that a large majority in the denomination do not believe that eternal life is exclusively available in Jesus Chirst? Does this not need to change first?

I wrote about this in my most recent blog entry.
http://timeforthetruth.wordpress.com/2009/08/21/what-must-i-do-to-inherit-eternal-life/

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Eric,
A big "thank you" from people like me, I received stem cells from my little sister 224 days ago when I had a BMT.
The shots, Neupogen, will probably sting a bit. I have had over fifty of them myself. I have had over fifty units of blood products too.
I'm doing pretty good now.
Without giving people like you, we, AML patients, would physically die.
Thank you more for your ministry.
Hopefully, you will be able to lead many more to Jesus Christ, they will repent of their sins and they will share in eternal life in heaven with us too.
Keep up the great job!

[Bone cells]

The shots, Neupogen, will probably sting a bit. I have had over fifty of them myself.

[Nicky]

The shots, Neupogen, will probably sting a bit. I have had over fifty of them myself. I have had over fifty units of blood products too. http://www.hotfileseek.com

[Jordan Basketball shoes]

I have always believed that the man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without.