I got a call the other day from the Red Cross, thanking me for my past donations and asking me to set up an appointment for my next one. I suppose they are calling me because my 8 weeks between donations has just run out, they are in dire need of blood this time of year (um, when are they NOT?), and hey I always say "yes" when they call. Just for fun, l asked the lady how many times they had me down for giving a pint in the past and she said 12 times in the last 8 years.

Now, I also gave regularly when I was living in Ohio, and for a good stretch in Colorado too so I am guessing it's been several gallons gone by now. This always amuses me, the thought of opening up the fridge and seeing instead of a white gallon of milk a reddish purple gallon of blood. Some of you know my grandfather came from Transylvania, thus 1 am one quarter pure myself. Maybe I'm part vampire, but I doubt it. I don't like the taste of blood, in fact I'm not a big fan of steaks. My son of course could eat them like Frank, while they are still mooing. But 1 digress...

The thing is, I got to wondering how much blood does a body have? So I went to the handy dandy Internet and found WikiAnswers. Now, this is the problem with computers. 1 ask "how many pints of blood does an average human body contain?" and it comes back with Answer: roughly S liters. Sigh. (The real answer is about 10 pints if you are metric-challenged)

But I did find out other information that was interesting. Someone needs blood about every 2 seconds. One of 7 patients in a hospital will need it. One pint on average will save three lives. Females receive more blood than males do - but that makes sense. Males are more likely to do something dumb and kill themselves over time, which is why as people get in older and older age groups there are less and less males.

Forty-two days is how long blood is stored (see, I could have it in the fridge for over a month!) You can freeze some of it for up to a year but after that it goes bad. A large percentage of medical procedures today that we think of as "common and ordinary" require blood, never mind the stuff like open heart surgery! If there was no blood on hand, folks would die in great numbers from simple ailments. In other wards, we need more blood than what we're born with! The odds are pretty good you WILL need someone else's blood somewhere in your lifetime.

Here are some other facts. The rarest blood type is the one not on the shelf when you need it. Only 10 percent of us donate blood. If just one percent more did, there would be no blood shortages. And in spite of what medical science and chemistry have come up with, there is no substitute for human blood. Period.

So what's with the blood facts? Well, 1 also was thinking about a friend I have who correctly states that Jesus' blood is the only thing that removes sin. The problem is he believes you have only to believe and you get it - none of this stuff about being made part of his death (i.e. baptism) putting you in contact with it, and don't confuse me with scripture, Randy! 1 thought about that as one of the great myths of the bible, in specific one of the great myths about the blood of Christ. The only way to defeat a myth is to dispel it with fact. Thus I was curious about blood donations.

I mean, after all. There is a universal donor, Jesus, who's blood has the power to save everyone! Someone needs it - every second! One hundred percent of people in hospitals (or NOT in a hospital) will need it. One pint will save huge multitudes of souls. Females do get more than males do, but I think that's a function of there being more females born overall if I was guessing.

It's always fresh, so storage is not a problem. All sin that we know of today, including "common and ordinary" sin require it. In other words, without it we will die! The odds are absolute you will need it. There are never shortages, and there are no substitutes. Period.

And yet, when you need blood all the blood in the world is not going to save you if you leave it sitting there on the shelf. Blood is the life of the body, the good book says, and unless you make Jesus' blood - his life - a part of your blood - your life, it won't do you a bit of good. Giving a pint of blood may save a life. But receiving some of Christ's blood, that will save your soul.

Randy