Another Day, Another Liver
Another Day Along the Way
Friday, November 11, 2005
Another day,
Wednesday was the eighth anniversary of Damon Hill's liver transplant. He would not be alive today if he had not received that transplant.
I wonder how many of us will be spiritually alive eight years from now if we do not receive a spiritual liver transplant. For us to play this game, for us to score, for us to win, for us to defeat the foe, it is time for new livers to give us life.
Physically, the liver is the largest organ in the body. Located in the upper right side of the abdomen underneath the lower ribcage, it acts as a filter to remove toxins (harmful, damaging, destructive substances) and waste products from the blood. Healthy livers filter the blood at a rate of 1.5 quarts per minute. Add it up and that equals 540 gallons of blood per day and over 13 million gallons in a lifetime.
The liver stores nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and iron. It helps synthesize and manage levels of chemicals and proteins such as sugars, hormones and cholesterol. It also helps the body digest food by producing bile which is stored in the gallbladder.
Think about the liver's functions and relate them to our spiritual bodies:
1. Stores and revives energy and vitamins
2. Regulates blood flow
3. Removes damage
4. Monitors balance
5. Produces heat
Our religious, habitual, dull, old livers can easily die. We need a new liver of life. It might be time for the transplant. As we receive and adjust to that change, we can have new energy, a better balance, and see the damage destroyed. A healthy liver changes appearance on the outside because the inner workings of the body have been made to work again. Health is restored and protected by the liver.
Damon received a new liver. He is alive and well.
Walter Payton, one of the best running backs in football history, needed a new liver. He could not get one because of other health issues. So, he died. Born July 25, 1954 in Columbia, Mississippi, and died November 1, 1999 in Barrington, Illinois, Payton spent thirteen years with the Chicago Bears. In February 1999, Payton announced that he had a rare liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis. Unable to receive a liver transplant because of bile duct cancer, Payton died in his home. After breaking Payton's career rushing record in 2002, Emmitt Smith tearfully paid tribute to Walter, saying that Payton had taught him how to conduct himself on and off the field.
If you are reading this, you are alive. But not all of us are spiritually well. We need to be made new.
Receive the liver God provides today to give us life. Let energy and health be revived. Let the flow of life's circulation be regulated. Let damage be removed. Let duties and expectations and assignments and experiences be balanced. Let warmth be produced again. A new spiritual liver can do that.
As we live with purpose and pursue victories, let us be healthy players in this game of life. Our Owner is guiding us toward new, amazing victories. He is giving us livers so we can live.
How do we get this new spiritual liver? "Ask and you shall receive," says the Liver Giver.
Receive a spiritual liver. And become a "liver" (one alive) again.
Along the way,
Chris Maxwell
Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods. Every time you do so you will be certain to find something that you have never seen before.
(Alexander Graham Bell)
Friday, November 11, 2005
Another day,
Wednesday was the eighth anniversary of Damon Hill's liver transplant. He would not be alive today if he had not received that transplant.
I wonder how many of us will be spiritually alive eight years from now if we do not receive a spiritual liver transplant. For us to play this game, for us to score, for us to win, for us to defeat the foe, it is time for new livers to give us life.
Physically, the liver is the largest organ in the body. Located in the upper right side of the abdomen underneath the lower ribcage, it acts as a filter to remove toxins (harmful, damaging, destructive substances) and waste products from the blood. Healthy livers filter the blood at a rate of 1.5 quarts per minute. Add it up and that equals 540 gallons of blood per day and over 13 million gallons in a lifetime.
The liver stores nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and iron. It helps synthesize and manage levels of chemicals and proteins such as sugars, hormones and cholesterol. It also helps the body digest food by producing bile which is stored in the gallbladder.
Think about the liver's functions and relate them to our spiritual bodies:
1. Stores and revives energy and vitamins
2. Regulates blood flow
3. Removes damage
4. Monitors balance
5. Produces heat
Our religious, habitual, dull, old livers can easily die. We need a new liver of life. It might be time for the transplant. As we receive and adjust to that change, we can have new energy, a better balance, and see the damage destroyed. A healthy liver changes appearance on the outside because the inner workings of the body have been made to work again. Health is restored and protected by the liver.
Damon received a new liver. He is alive and well.
Walter Payton, one of the best running backs in football history, needed a new liver. He could not get one because of other health issues. So, he died. Born July 25, 1954 in Columbia, Mississippi, and died November 1, 1999 in Barrington, Illinois, Payton spent thirteen years with the Chicago Bears. In February 1999, Payton announced that he had a rare liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis. Unable to receive a liver transplant because of bile duct cancer, Payton died in his home. After breaking Payton's career rushing record in 2002, Emmitt Smith tearfully paid tribute to Walter, saying that Payton had taught him how to conduct himself on and off the field.
If you are reading this, you are alive. But not all of us are spiritually well. We need to be made new.
Receive the liver God provides today to give us life. Let energy and health be revived. Let the flow of life's circulation be regulated. Let damage be removed. Let duties and expectations and assignments and experiences be balanced. Let warmth be produced again. A new spiritual liver can do that.
As we live with purpose and pursue victories, let us be healthy players in this game of life. Our Owner is guiding us toward new, amazing victories. He is giving us livers so we can live.
How do we get this new spiritual liver? "Ask and you shall receive," says the Liver Giver.
Receive a spiritual liver. And become a "liver" (one alive) again.
Along the way,
Chris Maxwell
Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods. Every time you do so you will be certain to find something that you have never seen before.
(Alexander Graham Bell)
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