During a basketball game that I can only assume was mind-blowingly epic, Gabriel O'Neale went up for a shot and somehow managed to relocate Brandon Boos' nose all over his face. Tremendous amount of blood. Like, I'm not sure how he was still up and walking.
Anyways, after he realized his life force was slowly (or not so slowly) leaking all over himself, he went inside to clean up. In his wake was left two door handles, a sink faucet, and a paper towel dispenser covered in the red stuff. I mean COVERED. Being the biology major (and sane adult) that I am, I immediately went to attempt to locate some bleach for cleaning purposes. Blood doesn't clean up so well with wet paper towels, as it falls under the bio-waste category. I was met with a bizarre reaction from the other adults though...mockery. They claimed I was grossed out by blood, afraid of blood, that Brandon didn't have any blood-borne diseases so who cares, etc. I cleaned it up anyways, then whooped up in Bananagrams, irritated but not enough to care.
Tonight, however, we had worship time where we took communion. As I drained my Dixie cup and thought about Jesus' blood, I noticed the inside of the cup was stained red and I flashed back to Brandon. One thought stuck in my mind.
Since when did (the) blood cease to be a big deal?
In second grade I got hit in the head with a rock and thought I had gone blind because I had so much blood running down my face. My sister saw me and proceeded to have a minor heart attack, as did my parents. My cousins would faint if someone got a paper cut. In horror movies, blood was a reason to freak out beyond all realms of sanity. But if a kid starts leaving bloody fingerprints all over our new(ish) youth room? Nothing to sneeze at.
Thanks to shows like ER and Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy and what-have-you, we no longer care about blood. It doesn't affect us like it used to. The same can sadly be said about Jesus' blood. Thanks to the Gospel of prosperity and an increased focus on missions and giving the Word to those who otherwise would never hear it (one of those is good, one bad. You decide) we've lost touch with how freaking amazing the idea of the cleansing power of Christ's blood is. I'm in no way saying that missions are bad, but we always have to remember what is at the core of that desire to spread His love--that I once was sinful, lost, and doomed to an eternity in Hell, separate from God, and then an amazing sacrifice happened, blood was shed, and now I am free and eternally loved.
So yeah...blood is a big deal, whether from Brandon's nose or from my Savior. One needs to be cleaned, the other does the cleansing.
Pretty incredible for a biohazard.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" Romans 5:8-10
