Preston Mitchell's Blog

Storms and Life

Last Wednesday night, we had a terrible storm move through the area.  We lost power and had to move our students inside the hallways of the Apex because of a reported tornado in the area. It was just crazy.  When I got home, I had tree limbs and leaves all over my back yard.  With 33 trees, I expected it to be a mess and it was.

On Friday, I hauled a garbage bag out to the back yard and began picking up all the debris from the storm.  As I was raking, it occurred to me that the stuff I was raking up was mostly dead limbs.  The storm had done me a huge favor by knocking it out of the trees so I could pick it up.  When I looked up at the trees, they looked healthy and green.

God works like that, doesn't He?  When we go through storms of life, a lot of junk is blown out of our lives through the process. That's why James tells us to be joyful for the storms in life because they are really cleansing and purifying the dead stuff out of our lives.

I thanked God for all the storms in my life.  They have made me the person I am today!

Blood Tests

This morning I had labs done.  Once a month (sometimes more), the lab tech takes a gallon of blood and runs it through a bunch of tests to see if my body is doing what it should.  I get numbers back that tell me how my body is interacting with my new kidney.  Blood tests are essential to good health because blood never lies.  It always tells the truth about what is happening with every organ in your body.  Blood is a fascinating fluid.  It gives life, it gives truth and it gives hope. 

I've had a lot of time to think about blood.  When I was in dialysis, I spent hours watching blood leave my body through a tube, route through a dialysis machine to be cleaned, and flow back into my body through another tube.  I am always amazed at all the things blood carries in its stream.  It delievers nutrients and energy to the cells and removes toxic waste from the cells. 

Blood is the cornerstone of our faith.  It gives life, it gives truth and it gives hope.  In the Old Testament, the blood of animals was sacrificed for forgiveness of sin.  In the New Testament, Jesus became the blood sacrifice for our forgiveness of sin. It took His blood to clean the toxic waste of sin in my blood so that I could have life, truth and hope.   As long as Jesus' blood is flowing through my veins, I have nothing to fear.

One of my favorite hymns growing up went like this: 

"What can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus.  What can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus.  O precious is that flow, that makes me white as snow, no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus."

If I give you a blood test right now, what truth would your blood reveal?