Heart Transplant

by Bill Irby

January 26, 2010

HEART TRANSPLANT
Friendship is a blessing and developing a new friendship is one of life’s finest experiences. A while back I preached in a Gospel Meeting in Philadelphia, Mississippi. It was an enjoyable week for many reasons. The people were (and are) just lovely and the meeting was well attended. The church has an excellent eldership, and is doing well.
The highlight of the week was the friendship that began with the preacher for the church there, Jim Murrell. I’ve mentioned Jim in these articles before. His uncle Don was one of my best friends when we lived in LaGrange, Georgia. Don preached for the Park Avenue church while I preached for Broad Street. We had a great relationship. Jim reminds me of Don and is now about the age Don and I were when we met.
Jim was born with a heart condition that I believe is called “transposition of the great vessels.” He had surgery at UAB as a baby and has lived much longer than expected. At present his situation is not too good. Thought he is in very good health otherwise, his heart is failing.
Jim is blessed with his wonderful wife Jennifer and two great children, a precocious little girl, Julianna and a sharp little boy, Cameron. Jim is a fine gospel preacher and an excellent student of the Bible. He works hard and the people in Philadelphia love him and his family.
But his heart is in very bad shape. In recent days I’ve read the reports they send out and have talked to him by telephone. He is in terrific spirits, but he has a lot on his plate. The doctors in Birmingham have told him that his options are down to one, and that is a heart transplant. I believe that he had thought that this would come his way one day, but that it would be somewhere down the line. He had hoped that his condition could be made reasonable for a longer period of time with other treatments, but such does not appear to be the case. It looks as if Jim’s failing heart will have to be replaced.
I mentioned Jim’s positive attitude. He is a faithful Christian and he knows and believes God’s promises. He has lived with a perilous health condition all his life, so his perspective is one of trusting God and then doing the best he can. He is not the kind of young fellow that cares to be “bragged on” but I think his attitude in the face of all of this is exemplary. We need to add Jim, Jennifer, Julianna and Cameron to our daily prayer list.
Christians know that the Bible uses the word “heart” to mean much more than the marvelous blood pump in our chests. The heart is the metaphoric center of our being, the repository of man’s intellect, emotions, and will. The Word of God does its work when it finds residence in a good and honest heart (Luke 8). The heart keeps God’s commandments (read Proverbs). As the heart goes, so goes life… and not just physically.
Ezekiel preached a tough message to his people. I am sure that at times people wondered if they’d ever hear anything good from him. They did. In a message of renewal in chapter 38 God had Ezekiel say this: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a new heart of flesh.” People of God would one day be blessed again, not with new blood pumps, but with spiritual rebirth. We know that Jesus has done this for us in the most absolute sense.
So, again, pray for Jim and his family. In the meantime, let’s check our own heart condition. I hope none of us need a new physical heart. But we may indeed need to allow the power of God’s truth renew our spiritual hearts.