The Cost of Life

In a conversation yesterday with a friend we discussed the topic of insurance and prescription costs. It is never fun finding $5,000 at the beginning of the year to pay an up front deductible before your benefits kick in. (Jody's prescription would be $230/day) However now that we have met our deductible, the rest of the year "should" be free. (Praise the Lord for that darn expensive insurance)

During the conversation, I quickly turned our direction toward the three choices we had. One, we could find the money and get the needed Gleevec that is the "Miracle" drug as the doctors call it. Two, we could decide it costs too much and opt for the "Old" treatment drugs. Three we could ignore the Doctor's diagnosis and pretend that Jody did not have this thing called CML. Now these last two scenarios really did not leave us any other option. We would be fools to choose a treatment plan that offered a "two year death sentence." And we would be fools to choose to ignore the wisdom of one who is there to care for us. So option one was the only way we could imagine. It really didn't matter what the cost, we were going to give everything to attain the "miracle" we needed.

As a pastor, this quickly translated into a spiritual analogy. Of course we all know that we are sinners and that our sin has gifted us with a death sentence. There are several ways that we can proceed of course.

One, we can seek out the "miracle" cure. This cure for sin as we know is only in the love, grace and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And by faith in Jesus we gain the "miracle" of life everlasting.

Two, we can try things the "Old" way. We can try to be good enough to get to heaven. We can try to do enough to outweigh the sin in our life. But again scripture tells us that the only way to overcome sin is through Jesus, so I see this option without Jesus as a "short term death sentence" and no real option at all.

Finally, I guess we can ignore our situation all together and believe that there is no such thing as sin, no such thing as eternal life, no such thing as God. But who would do such a crazy thing to risk their life and future by not at least investigating the diagnosis and the hope of a miracle cure.

We chose option #1 and we hope you all will do the same.
In the Love and Grace of God.