A New Heart

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." - Ezekiel 36:26

I'm not really sure where to begin today's story. Perhaps by rewinding to 2008 - (sixteen years ago? That long??). I had just volunteered to be a youth leader at church.

Kortney was just "one of the kids" in the youth group back then. We met a few times at Dairy Queen to talk, but our conversations weren't as weighty then as they are today.

These days we talk about transplants and tests, families and bucket lists.

I thank God for our renewed friendship, but always in the background is the thought that our future conversations may be few. So I make a point to be positive and funny while also being encouraging and empathetic at the same time. 

There are currently 103,223 people on the National Organ Donation Waiting List. 3,436 of those are waiting for a heart to become available. 943 are waiting for a lung, or two.

My friend recently completed five LONG days of testing at UW - Madison's hospital. She is now on the official waiting list. Can you imagine what that must be like? I can't.

What is the Christian response in situations like this? Prayer, of course. But James tells us that "faith without works is dead." So, what can we do?

My Wisconsin driver's license has a little star on it in the lower right corner. That means that I checked a box on an application at some point. It also means that I am an organ donor. Are you one? If not, please consider it. 17 people die each day, waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.

But what else can be done? Hmm. That's a tough one but here it is. Talk to people about Jesus. It's a critical conversation to have when someone is facing an unknown future.

Another thing you can do is to pray WITH them. Let people hear your words. Ask if you can pray for them, then do it. Right then and there.

The thing we need to remember that anyone who is struggling just needs to know that they are loved and that someone cares. It's sounds simple but it requires being open and vulnerable.

Just look at the world we live in. Pain and suffering seem to be everywhere. It's almost like the world needs a giant heart transplant, right? And only God can do that.

Love, pray, act, repeat.