trust

Someone has prepared the following list of things that you don't want to hear during surgery:

~ Better save that. We'll need it for the autopsy.

~ Bo! Bo! Come back with that! Bad dog!

~ Wait a minute, if this is his spleen, then what's that?

~ Hand me that, uh, that uh, thingie.

~ Ya know, there's big money in kidneys. Hey, this guy's got two of

'em!

~ Everybody stand back! I lost my contact lens!

~ Could you stop that thing from beating? It's throwing my

concentration off.

~ That's cool! Can you make his leg twitch again?

~ I wish I hadn't forgotten my glasses.

~ Well folks, this will be an experiment for us all.

~ Sterile, shcmerile. The floor's clean, right?

~ Nurse, did this patient sign the organ donation card?

~ Don't worry. I think it's sharp enough.

~ Oh, no! Page 47 of the manual is missing!

When you think about it, going in for any kind of surgery and allowing a doctor (whom you hardly know) to cut you open with a knife is a great act of faith. Having been there myself, I know that it's not an option that anyone chooses without a lot of thought and prayer. But sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where we must be willing to allow a doctor to take our lives in his (or her) hands, trusting in their ability to bring life and health.

Jesus desires that we reach the same point spiritually. If we feel we have no real problems (at least, nothing we can't handle ourselves), we're tempted to take the spiritual equivalent of two aspirin and go on with our lives. But it is only when we realize the seriousness of our condition that we are forced to turn to the Great Physician, allowing him to take our lives in his hand, trusting in his ability to bring life and health.

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick....For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (Matthew 9:12-13)