We are born into this world unblemished and scarless, but in order to separate from our mothers, we must be scarred. Experiences are traced in our lives through scars—both physical and emotional. Some people even go to great lengths to intentionally scar themselves with piercings and tattoos to create their unique identities. These scars shape us. By the end of our lives, we are able to look at our bodies and tell stories about each blemish on our skin and each scar in our hearts.
As Doug and Izaak lay in their beds and mend, their wounds speak stories into all of our lives. Stories that leap off of this monitor and tell deep, rich stories into our own lives. When they are fully recovered, they will carry these scars with them for the rest of their lives. They will each tell the story in different ways. Izaak will probably humbly tell a story of Doug and take little self credit. Doug will laugh a deep belly laugh, drop in a thoughtful quote from his latest thinker, and make a gracious thanksgiving of God’s grace and Izaak’s action. Nevertheless, they will never forget June 14, 2006.
They could have avoided the scars. Doug could have chosen a life of dialysis, and his life would be marred with very different scars. Izaak could have chosen a broad array of other ways to scar his body this summer (liver damage for example), but instead he chose to permanently reshape his anatomy for his friend/mentor/pastor. When I asked Izaak why he was really doing this for Doug he said, “These are the things we live for.†Of course, we are not all called to take such dramatic steps in life, but I think the challenge is to find the things that we live for and go after them boldly—no matter how they scar us.
