The human body is a work of art.
The doctor said, “His heart has grown its own bypass, so we left it alone.”
After being transported to the hospital because he gasped for breath, my father-in-law was diagnosed with pneumonia. The news relieved us. We assumed he either had COVID or a heart-related issue.
Nurses put him on a heavy dose of oxygen—just shy of the ventilator—for a few days. When his oxygen level stabilized and he could breathe without assistance, doctors performed a heart Cath to ensure he had no blockages since he had a pacemaker and had had a stint put in two years before.
What the doctor saw may have astonished him, but it amazed us even more. I had heard of such a thing but had never known anyone whose body had grown one. My father-in-law did have a blockage where the doctor had earlier placed the stint, but the vein had developed its own bypass around the blockage.
“The blood is pumping fine through the natural bypass,” the doctor reported, “so we left it alone.” After all, how could he improve on what God had miraculously accomplished?
“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself” (1 Corinthians 6:19 NLT).
I never cease to feel amazed by the human body. How it functions. What it can withstand and recover from. But the most fantastic thing is that it can house a part of God in the form of God’s Holy Spirit. This takes us beyond the physical aspects of our body to its spiritual realm.
Just as the human body has physical functions that keep it going, it also has a spiritual side that needs attention. I attempt to exercise at least four times a week to keep my body in shape. And I also make a half-hearted attempt to eat right, hoping my efforts will keep my body working until a ripe old age.
But if we only feed the physical and neglect the spiritual, we have failed in what God wants. God puts His Spirit in us for a reason. We need guidance for daily decisions—the large and the small. The strength to face what life throws our way is crucial, as we discovered during the COVID pandemic. We need eyes to see the opportunities God gives us to show His love to others in practical ways. God’s Spirit aids us in all these and more ways.
When we care for our spiritual body, we will be amazed at what it can do, just as we are amazed at the intricate ways God has created our physical bodies.
Take care of your physical body, but nurture your spiritual side also.
I loved reading how your Dad grew his own bypass. My baby brother- many years ago – was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, or water on the brain. Normally we are all born with a shunt that drains off the water intended to cool our brain much the way a radiator cools a cars engine. My brother was not and became one of the first children to have a shunt inserted at Pittsburgh’s Children’s Hospital. They told us he would need to have this surgery repeated every five years as he grew in height. My parents had placed my brother, Matthew, on prayer chains throughout the US and he never had to have another surgery because he grew his own shunt. If you touch behind his ear today, you can feel the end of the shunt that was placed in him when he was only a few months old. He is now 56 years old.
“If we only feed the physical and neglect the spiritual, we have failed in what God wants.” Truth. Thank you for the reminder, Martin.