The last Sunday in April I was back in Dallas where I was finishing up lifeguard certification course for one of my jobs this summer. It just so happens the class was at Tom Landry Fitness center, which is connected to Baylor hospitals. The indoor pool where I was being trained backed up to a beautiful park filled with statues of children and fountains and all sorts of lush green flowers and plants. And on Saturday most of my classmates and I took their lunch break out there, but on Sunday we noticed the park was occupied.
There were all sorts of bounce houses and slides set up, there were big tents filled with cute tables and chairs and lots and lots of food. I would have attempted to casually crash the party outside and snag some free munchies but I noticed that most everyone at the picnic was wearing either a green or white shirt. And I'm pretty sure I'd stick out like a sore thumb in my navy blue swimsuit and hot pink shorts. So I asked one of my instructors what was going on out there and they told me it was the Transplant reunion picnic.
The words transplant reunion replayed softly in my head, as I watched through the window I could see so many people's stories unfolding. Some families had both white and green shirts in the family (I'm thinking green was recipient and white was for donors), I saw what I made out to be two sisters both in their 40s with their husbands and children standing there for a picture one in green the other in white and both families beaming. I also saw a dad and his teenage daughter wearing a white and green shirt and him holding his daughter's hand. For some people today they were maybe meeting their bone marrow donor for the first time. Another family there may have lost their college age daughter in a car crash last year but they were coming to the picnic today to meet the sweet 10 yr old girl who now has a second chance in life since receiving a heart transplant. Whole families came together to mark another year of life a new organ had given one of their loved ones. It was poetic. God's glory and grace was made alive in that park. As I looked on I began to cry and not just misty eyed but the kind of streaming shaking tears that won't stop till you turn away. I wasn't crying because I thought of how long each transplant recipient must've waited for a new organ, and I wasn't crying because I was thinking about the pain it must've caused the donors or their family. I was crying because God was revealing to me His utter goodness and compassion. How perfect is our God that he knew before he formed all of us in the womb what struggles in our life we would face but not only that he knew how he would hold us and keep us through those troughs. How majestic is he that he would reveal to us medical breakthroughs so that a little boy born 7 yrs ago who got leukemia would survive thanks to someone else’s bone marrow. My mind cannot comprehend how loving our God is that while we live in a fallen world and while we are still sinners he never forsakes us. He rescues us out of darkness and showers his love upon us. He heals us. God brought me to that lifeguarding class that weekend to show me one of his modern day miracles. As I composed myself and jumped back in the pool to hide my tears I felt the Lord just reminding me- Rebe, I am healer. I will deliver my people. Rebe, I hold the world in my hands. Nothing is too great for me. Remember.
IF you want to check out more about the picnic the Dallas Morning News wrote an article about it : http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/042610dnmetdonorwall.3786.html
Also Kari Jobe wrote a great song called Healer that is definitely worth downloading
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