Repentance

As I went through the process over the last month, the one word that was continually in my mind was repentance. We all know that repentance means to turn around, and we have all equated repentance with the words “I’m sorry.” Repentance is so much more. The process of Stem cell harvesting and transplant reminded me and taught me so much about repentance and I feel the needed to write this blog. When my stem cells were harvested, I had a tough time. I became catatonic, unable to move or talk, and my jaw locked up, and my tongue swelled up, and all this took place because I was calcium deficient. I was missing one essential substance. It took three days to gather all the cells needed for a successful transplant, but each of those cells were required to be cleaned so they would produce a positive result. The stem cells were not the only thing that needed to be cleaned; my immune system also needed to be cleaned (or killed), so I was given a high dose of Chemotherapy to kill my unhealthy immune system. After a day or two, they put back the cleaned stem cells and they began to find their place and do their work. This process isn’t easy, but my body must work the way that God intended for it to work. You may be thinking, what does any of this have to do with repentance? As I started this article, most of us have thought of repentance as removing the unwanted foam from a frou-frou coffee. Repentance is much more and much more profound. Repentance is the desire and the action of removing not the unwanted foam of evil but the root of evil in our lives. It involves the complex process of identifying and eliminating sin’s deep and persistent cause. It is hard and often painful. It can mean replacing our blood with the blood of Jesus Christ flowing through our veins, and for that to happen, we may have to take a high dose of humility and regret before His new cells can begin to do their work. You see, repentance is not a “get past this event”; repentance is the transformation of life for the glory of God. After repentance, what you will find is life and life abundant. In Him J. Tom Washburn