Good Friday

Over the last 3 weeks I have had about every different test/scan that I can think of.   Multiple blood tests, 2 CT scans, 2 biopsies, 1 stomach scope, 1 stomach emptying test, an ekg, an electrocardiogram, a pulmonary test, an ultrasound, and the biggest one of all was yesterday, a PET scan.   My dad said I should have taken my dog with me for that one.  The PET scan machine is huge. It's a full body tunnel that you are slowly pulled through while laying on you back with your arms above your head.  Very uncomfortable and if you are claustrophobic it would be torture.  I closed my eyes most of the time and tried to enjoy the country music that was playing as I counted down by the number of songs the 20 minutes the test was going to take.   The one thing that has shocked me is the cost of all of these tests, but none more than the PET scan.   When they called me to tell me that the insurance approved amount was just under $12,000 and my part was about $2,500 I about fell off my chair!   I couldn't believe the cost.  So... I started calling around to see if anyone could do it cheaper.   Found out that no one else in the Tri-Cities has a PET scan machine besides Ballad, so... they have a monopoly.   The national average cost for a PET scan is $5,750 and I actually discovered that Roanoke Hospital charges $1,800, but they couldn't get me in for another week.   So... reluctantly I went ahead with the local PET scan but made a note to price check any future tests in our area. I now have all the tests/scans that Duke University Hospital had asked me to do and am preparing to go there next week on or before Thursday April 8th where I hope to begin my treatment.  

As I thought about the price of these tests my mind reflected on Easter week and the price that Christ paid for us, WAY more than $12,000 and He didn't balk for a second.   Last night, Thursday, He had His Last Supper with His disciples, instituting communion for the first time as He interrupted the Passover by making the 3rd cup, the cup of redemption all about Him and the price He was about to pay.    Following the supper, He made His way to one of His favorite prayer spots, the Garden of Gethsemane which is where He wrestled with the price of our salvation.   The agony He bore in the garden was literally enough to kill Him (Luke 22:44).   Hematidrosis is the scientific word for when blood vessels burst under stress and blood mingles with sweat.    It was not death that He struggled with, it was the "cup."   The cup is an Old Testament symbol of divine wrath against sin (Isaiah 51:17, Jeremiah 25:15-16, 27-28).    Jesus ALWAYS did His Father's will and there was never any doubt that He would go through with it but now it was imminent and the human side of Christ had to come to terms with it.  In His prayer He called Father God, "daddy" a beautiful intimacy between Father and Son.   In the end Christ's prayer above all was.a prayer of submission "not My will, but Yours be done."   The decision was fully made in that garden of pain.  Following that He was arrested, tried by the Chief Priests, Herod, and then Pontius Pilate resulting in being condemned to a cruel death on the cross where He drank the cup of divine wrath for you and for me.   My wrestling with a $12,000 test pales in comparison with what Christ wrestled with and ultimately paid for you and for me.    On this Good Friday let us remember that no price was too great for Him to pay for your salvation.   This is a dark day in the Christian calendar but without His death the payment for sin could not be made.  He did not back down, not for a second, He came to die that we might live.   I am walking through one of the most difficult times in my life, which was proceeded by one of the most difficult years I have experienced but not for one second have I doubted His love for me.   I am so overwhelmingly grateful that He was willing to pay the incredible exhorbitant price for my redemption.  How about you?