such small hands

New York Proposes Rapid Organ Recovery Ambulance

Better post on this initiative in New York to expand opportunities for organ donations before all my friends start forwarding it to me in e-mails.

Also, please read the valuable Q&A sidebar that gives further detail on the RORA crew’s procedures. Sounds like many rules are in place to prevent even the appearance of a conflict of interest, so that no potential donor is rushed into the organ-preserving procedures before actually being declared dead.

Naturally, as an organ recipient and next-of-kin to two people who have expressed wishes to be organ donors, I think this is a good way to expand the donor opportunity to all those who wish to give their organs at death. It gives the families time ... so that if their loved one had always wanted to be a donor, their organs are preserved for transplantation. If not, then nothing is lost; the body is not "invaded." If it is true, as the article states, that a potential 22,000 donors could be considered under these guidelines, think what that would mean for the long transplant waiting lists.

Let’s look at what this does NOT mean:
• Paramedics will not be harvesting organs for transplant in the field (read the sidebar “Preserving the Right to Donate Organs” describing what procedures the RORA crew would do)
• The deceased will not become donors against the wishes of their families
• The next step is not the Soylent Green factory. Seriously, commenters should always remember to engage brain before typing!

Is It Trust or Foolishness?

Maybe I’ve been reading too many articles about the food riots last month in third-world countries. Maybe I read too much of Rod Dreher’s blog over at Beliefnet, where he often frets and fusses over the latest dark cloud on the horizon. In this post, he cites a Wall Street Journal article advising us all to stock our pantries with rice and wheat products. Sometimes Dreher reminds me of Chicken Little.

So, with all this percolating in my subconscious, I woke up at 2 a.m. one night last week with the crystalline thought that, from my perspective as a Christian at least, there’s something wrong with stockpiling 50-pound bags of rice and flour in my basement. I will not do it. I will just go on, planning the week’s meals and buying the groceries we need that week, as I always have.

In my day-to-day walk with God and in my reading and study of Jesus’ words, God has revealed Himself to me in real and personal ways as my Healer and Provider. To put it in the simplest terms, if God has provided a kidney transplant to sustain my life, is food too difficult for Him? If I have a storehouse of food in my basement, is my trust in God or in my stockpile?

This all put me in mind of Jesus’ parable about the foolish rich man in Luke 12:13-21. Jesus says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And He told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself: ‘What shall I do? I have not place to store my crops.’ Then he said: ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Other Scriptures that seem to address this issue:
• Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth …but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do no destroy … for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
• Give us this day our daily bread.
• Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink … For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows you need them. But seek first His kingdom …