The Key....

    The day is over, you are driving home. You tune in your radio.  You hear a little blurb about a little village in India where some villagers  have died suddenly, strangely, of a bird flu that has never been seen before. 
 It's not influenza, but three of three people are dead, and it's kind of  interesting, and they're sending some doctors over there to investigate it.  This is finally the human to human mutation of the bird flu, but they think they have a handle on it.

    You don't think much about it, but on Sunday, coming home from church,  you hear another radio spot. Only they say it's not three villagers, it's 
 30,000 villagers in the back hills of this particular area of India, and  it's on TV that night. FOX runs a little blurb; people are heading there  from the disease center in Atlanta because this disease strain has never 
 been seen before.

    By Monday morning when you get up, it's the lead story. For it's not just  India; it's Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and before you know it, you're  hearing this story everywhere and they have coined it now as "the new pandemic of our generation." The President has made some comment that he and everyone are praying  and hoping that all will go well over there. But everyone is wondering - how  are we going to contain it. That's when the President of France makes an  announcement that shocks Europe. He is closing their borders. No flights 
 from India, Pakistan, or any of the countries where this thing has been seen. And that's why that night you are watching a little bit of FOX before going to bed. Your jaw  hits your chest when a weeping woman is translated from a French news  program into English: There's a man lying in a hospital in Paris dying of 
 the avian flu. It has come to Europe. Panic strikes.

    As best they can tell, once you get it, you have it for a week before you  know it Then you have four days of unbelievable symptoms. And then you die. 
 Britain closes it's borders, but it's too late. South Hampton, Liverpool,  North Hampton, and it's Tuesday morning when the President of the United  States makes the following announcement: "Due to a national security risk,  all flights to and from Europe and Asia have been canceled. If your loved  ones are overseas, I'm sorry.  They cannot come back until we find a cure
 for this thing."

    Within four days our nation has been plunged into an unbelievable fear.  People are selling little masks for your face. People are talking about  "What if it comes to this country," and preachers on Tuesday are saying, 
 "it's the scourge of God." It's Wednesday night and you are at a church  prayer meeting when somebody runs in from the parking lot and says, "Turn on  a radio, turn on a radio." And while the church listens to a little 
 transistor radio with a microphone stuck up to it, the announcement is made.

    Two women are lying in a Long Island hospital dying from the avian flu.  Within hours it seems, this thing just sweeps across the country. People are 
 working around the clock trying to find an antidote. Nothing is working.  California. Oregon. Arizona. Florida.  Massachusetts. It's as though it's 
 just sweeping in from the borders. And then, all of a sudden the news comes  out. The code has been broken. A cure can be found. A vaccine can be made. 
 It's going to take the blood of somebody who hasn't been infected, and so,  sure enough, all through the Midwest, through all those channels of  emergency broadcasting, everyone is asked to do one simple thing: Go to your  downtown hospital and have your blood type taken. That's all we ask of you. 
 When you hear the sirens go off in your neighborhood, please make your way  quickly, quietly, and safely to the hospitals.

 Sure enough, when you and your family get down there late on that Friday night, there is a long line, and they've got nurses and doctors  coming out and pricking fingers and taking blood and putting labels on it. 

 Your wife and your kids are out there, and they take your blood type and  they say, "Wait here in the parking lot and if we call your name, you can be 
dismissed and go home." You stand around, scared, with your neighbors,  wondering what in the world is going on and that this is the end of the  world. Suddenly a young man comes running out of the hospital screaming.  He's yelling a name and waving a clipboard. What He yells it again! And your 
son tugs on your jacket and says, "Daddy, that's me."  Before you know it,  they have grabbed your boy. Wait a minute. Hold on! And they say, "It's  okay, his blood is clean. His blood is pure. We want to make sure he doesn't  have the disease. We think he has got the right type."

 Five tense minutes later, out come the doctors and nurses, crying and hugging one another -- some are even laughing. It's the first time you have seen anybody laugh in a week, and an old doctor walks up to you and  says, Thank you, sir. Your son's blood type is perfect. It's clean, it is  pure, and we can make the vaccine."

 As the word begins to spread all across that parking lot full of folks, people are screaming and praying and laughing and crying. But then  the gray-haired doctor pulls you and you wife aside and says, "May we see 
 you for a moment We didn't realize that the donor would be a minor and we  need you to sign a consent form."

 You begin to sign and then you see that the number of pints of blood to be taken is empty. "H-h-h-how many pints"

 And that is when the old doctor's smile fades and he says, "We had no idea it would be a little child. We weren't prepared. We need it all!"

 "But -- but ... You don't understand."

 "We are talking about the world here. Please sign. We -- we need it all!"

 "But can't you give him a transfusion"

 "If we had clean blood we would. Can you sign?   Would you sign"

 In numb silence, you do. Then they say, "Would you like to have a moment with him before we begin"

 Can you walk back Can you walk back to that room where he sits on a table saying, "Daddy Mommy What's going on" Can you take his hands and say, 
 "Son, your mommy and I love you, and we would never ever let anything happen  to you that didn't just have to be. Do you understand that"

 And when that old doctor comes back in and says, "I'm sorry, we've -we've got to get started. People all over the world are dying." Can you  leave Can you walk out while he is saying, "Dad Mom - Dad Why -why have you  forsaken me"

 And then next week, when they have the ceremony to honor your son, and some folks sleep through it, and some folks don't even come because they go  to the lake, and some folks come with a pretentious smile and just pretend  to care. Would you want to jump up and say, "MY SON DIED! DON'T YOU CARE"

 Is that what GOD wants to say "MY SON DIED! DON'T YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I CARE"

 "Father, seeing it from your eyes breaks our hearts. Maybe now we can begin to comprehend the great Love you have for us."
 

A

Admit you have sinned. The Bible says all have sinned

(Romans 3:23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.)

B

Believe Jesus is God's Son. He took the punishment 

for your sins on Himself by dying on the Cross

(Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates his own love 

for us in this: While we were still sinners, 

Christ died for us.) You must believe that He is God 

and that He died to offer you forgiveness.

(Acts 10:43, All the prophets testify about him 

that everyone who believes in him receives 

forgiveness of sins through his name.")

C

Confess your sins. You must be truly sorry for your sins, 

forsake (stop) them, and ask Jesus to forgive you.

(Acts 3:19, Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be 

wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,)

I sincerely hope that one day you and I will meet again, 

in Heaven.