Humility

One day in the near future, his cell phone will ring, and the hospital representative will tell him the news that in exactly two weeks time, he is to report to the hospital for surgery. This will be no simple outpatient procedure. No extraction of a tooth. He will be donating a lobe of his own lung, as will another anonymous individual, in order to potentially save a young person's life. To do so, he will be risking his own, even though the greatest care and skill will, of course, be taken. In this, there are no guarantees. No guarantees for success. No guarantees of a perfect and speedy recovery. Not even guarantees that the procedure will go forward, for at any time the entire process could collapse with one wrong test result. But at this point, everything indicates a "go". All signs indicate that the call will come.

And I admit, I am nervous about it all. For this friend is more than a friend to me. He is the definition of "brother in Christ". The impact he has had on my life, that he continues to have on my life, and on my faith in Jesus Christ, is simply and truly immeasurable. I am so much the richer for his presence and his companionship, his wisdom and his faithfulness, and above all his unconditional acceptance of me and all my foibles. And his willingness to go forward with this procedure, is just more proof of why I am blessed to call him my friend. And the willingness of his family, his wife and children, to support him in this, is just more proof of their strength, which I deeply admire. They are a cord not easily broken.

In preparations for this procedure, as you might imagine, there were, and continue to be, a myriad of tests, to determine if he will be a suitable candidate. Blood work, lung capacity, family health history, etc. I was surprised to hear that one of those tests involved interviews with a psychologist. You see, they are interested in knowing why the donor is willing to donate. Is it due to a messiah-complex? Is it due to pressures exerted by family members? Is it due to a desire to be a hero? Is it due to guilt or remorse? Why? Like the woman who humbly brings her offering of two small copper coins, and places them into the offering chests at the Temple with joy, simply because she can, so my friend is offering a lobe of his lung. Humbly, with joy. Simply because he can.

Humility is a word that seems lost in our modern culture. Everything today seems to revolve around attitude, and swagger and respect. It is too easy to miss those humble enough to offer their meager coins, as we too intently focus on those bringing their wagon-loads. I thank God for this example of humility that is being played out in my friend's life, and will be played out in the days ahead. And with all the humility I can muster, I give my prayers as a parallel offering.