Have You Considered Donating Life?

I’m sure we all have been asked by our physicians or an emergency room staff member if we are an organ donor. Did it ever occur to you to register as an organ donor? Nope, I am not talking about donating that musical instrument with strong spiritual sounds ringing from the keyboards that you often find in worship institutions. I’m speaking of organs such as kidneys, heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, and the intestines. Or tissue donation such as corneas, the middle ear, skin, heart valves, bone, veins, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments.

Recently, I was sent a survey to complete for an organization I am a member of, in a campaign to get its members to register as an organ donor. I have to admit that I thought about signing up, but never really pursued the thought any further. After watching the 2002 movie “John Q” starring Denzel Washington, it made me rethink my hesitation and decision to give life after death. In case many of you have not seen this movie, John Q is a film by Nick Cassavetes; starring Denzel Washington as John Quincy Archibald, a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because his HMO insurance will not cover it. Therefore, he decides to take a hospital full of patient’s hostage until the hospital puts his son's name on the recipient's list. As the movie climaxes, just when John Q decides to take his life so that his son could have his heart, a young lady who was in a fatal car accident, was an organ donor and miraculously her heart was flown to the hospital to be implanted in John Q’s son. (Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Q)

Here are some interesting facts from the website of Donate Life America, to help you understand the truth vs. the myths of organ donation:

Fact: Anyone can be a potential donor regardless of age, race, or medical history.

Fact: All major religions in the United States support organ, eye and tissue donation and see it as the final act of love and generosity toward others.

Fact: If you are sick or injured and admitted to the hospital, the number one priority is to save your life. Organ, eye and tissue donation can only be considered after you are deceased.

Fact: When you are on the waiting list for an organ, what really counts is the severity of your illness, time spent waiting, blood type, and other important medical information, not your financial status or celebrity status.

Fact: An open casket funeral is possible for organ, eye and tissue donors. Through the entire donation process the body is treated with care, respect and dignity.

Fact: There is no cost to the donor or their family for organ or tissue donation.

A national computer network, the OPTN (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network) matches donated organs with recipients throughout the country. Transplant success rates increase when organs are matched between members of the same ethnic background. Consequently, a lack of organs donated by multicultural populations can contribute to longer waiting periods for transplantation.

For more information, check out these following websites: http://organdonor.gov/ and http://www.donatelife.net/. Also, check out this clip of a touching story where a little girl’s heart, becomes a humungous gift of life, that gives a mother a second chance! http://news.mydaily.com/2010/09/23/heart-to-heart/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl8%7Csec1_lnk2%7C172553.

Sense of Connection

(Includes excerpts from the book, Diversities of Gifts: Same Spirit, by Kym Gordon Moore)

The early morning hours are one of the most tranquil times of the day to watch life unfold all around me and take in how much nature changed overnight. I notice so many new flower buds or tiny leaves beginning to sprout from the branches on my plants and trees. My attitude is to celebrate life every moment of the day. Normally, as I start my day off in prayer and meditation, I’m always talking to God. Like a little chatter box, I always seem to have something to talk to God about. But, on one particular morning, the LORD clearly spoke to me and told me to sit outside and be quiet. He challenged me to use this quiet time to become connected to all of my senses. This directive took me by surprise and I had no idea what was in store for me.

I realize that in our lives we will always go through one challenge or another. It’s how we choose to deal with it, while trying to sustain a sense of peace, even in the midst of chaotic circumstances, that makes the difference. I discovered that my assignment this morning reached beyond reading my Bible. A supernatural conversation was about to take place and to my surprise, it was a healing and reenergizing session.

There is a time when we must sit still, listen and observe. You can’t hear when there’s a lot of background noise and hurriedness going on around you. Confusion, challenges and problems stir up anxiousness, worriation and weakness. Each sensory organ serves a unique, fundamental purpose and is designed to work together. As I run into people who may be challenged in, or devoid of one or more of their physical senses, I notice that their other functioning senses become more intuitive. Their weaker senses rely on their stronger senses, similar to the way a backup generator kicks in, when the electrical power goes out.

Our sense of connection makes us messengers of hope, so use your senses wisely. As I look around nowadays, I see far too many instances where people are so broken, that they’ve given up hope. If they lost hope, then their faith is displaced, due to distractions and a disconnection from their Power Source (God the Father). When we operate in Godly wisdom, we will be able to see hear, taste, touch and smell beyond human comprehension. This is the poetry of spiritual saturation versus emotional stimulation.

http://www.kymgmoore.com/

Rising From the Ashes of 9/11

As we remember the events of September 11, 2001, I hope that as a nation of resilient people, we are stronger, wiser and more unified than we have been. Monumental disasters always test the human spirit and although we don’t forget, we move forward with courage, important lessons that we learned and hope for a brighter tomorrow.

In light of the extremist ramblings from a few citizens in this country, as well as around the world, we must remember that the events that took place on 9/11 didn’t kill us, but made us stronger. We must be mindful not to clump everyone from a particular race, religion, creed, culture or socioeconomic status in one category, due to these particular extremists, because that will continue to be the kindling that reignites the inferno. Other horrific terroristic attacks that took place on our soil, by our own citizens, brought us together to the table of peace as we transcended the brutality. The 1995 Oklahoma City Bombings, the 1921 Black Wall Street Massacre, the countless nationwide school and college shootings, or the daily criminal elements preying on the innocent, are just a few.

“The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.” Genesis 4:10-11 (New International Version)

We will always find that diabolical element in all sectors of our local, national and global communities, but that doesn’t mean that the people of those communities embrace the extremists among their own. We must understand that many of these masterminds of evil may not be caught, yet their deeds will catch up with them. We must also realize that if we were to assassinate the leaders of radicalism, there are still the “seeds” they planted, continuing to germinate and spread like a weed that we have to contend with. But let us not walk around in fear or as prisoners of our emotions. Neither let us get trigger-happy, nor crucify the innocent as a form of retaliation, because it will only make matters worse. In order to be healed, we must understand with our hearts.

So on this day, we won’t cast aside the importance or side-effects of our memories. But, let us not get trapped in the abyss of hatred, bitterness and depression in spite of our hurt and woundedness. We won’t forget those lives that were lost, or the people never found, because just like the twin towers, they will always be landmarks in our hearts. Although we wish we could, we can’t go back and rewrite the past, but we will celebrate our gift of life, freedom, equality and hopefully wisdom! We strive for world peace, but we must first start with charity in our own homes, communities, municipalities, schools, businesses and worship institutions, before it can resonate internationally.

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." -Colossians 3:13-15 (King James Version)

Happy Labor Day!

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. Check out more about this memorable holiday at http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm.

Exercise caution and responsibility! Have a safe and celebratory Labor Day everyone!

http://www.kymgmoore.com/