Don't read this until you can read it all without interruption...

 The day is over, you are driving home. You tune in your radio. You hear a little blurb about a little village in India where some villagers have died suddenly, strangely, of a flu that has never been seen before. Its not influenza, but three or four people are dead, and its kind of interesting, and they are sending some doctors over there to investigate it.   You don't think much about it, but on the way home from church, you hear another radio spot. Only they say its not three villagers, its 30,000 villagers in the back hills of this particular area of India, and it's on TV that night. CNN runs a little blurb; people are heading there from the disease control center in Atlanta because this disease strain has never been seen before.

 By Monday morning when you get up, its the lead story. For its not just India; its Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and before you know it, you're hearing this story everywhere and they have coined it "the mystery flu."   The President has made some comment that he and everyone are praying and hoping that all will go well over there. But everyone is wondering, "How are we going to contain it?"

 That's when the President of France makes an announcement that shocks Europe. He is closing their borders. No flights from India, Pakistan or any of the countries where this thing has been seen.  And that's why that night you are watching a little bit of CNN before going to bed. Your jaw hits your chest when a weeping woman is translating from a French news program into English; There's a man lying in a hospital in Paris dying of the mystery flu. It has come to Europe.

 Panic strikes. As best they can tell, once you get it you have it for a week before you know it. Then you have four days of unbelievable symptoms. And then you die.  Britain closes its borders, but it's too late; South Hampton, Liverpool, North Hampton.....all infected. Tuesday morning the President of the United States makes the following announcement: "Due to a national security risk, all flights to and from Europe and Asia have been canceled. If your loved ones are overseas, I'm sorry. They cannot come back until we find a cure for this thing."

 Within four days our nation has been plunged into unbelievable fear. People are talking about "What if it comes to this country"? Preachers on Tuesday are saying it is the scourge of God. It's Wednesday night and you are at a church prayer gathering when somebody runs in from the parking lot and says "Turn on a radio, turn on a radio!" And while the church listens to a little transistor radio with a microphone stuck up to it, the announcement is made. Two women are lying in a Long Island hospital dying from the mystery flu. Within hours it seems, this thing just sweeps across the country. People are working around the clock trying to find an antidote. Nothing is working. California, Oregon, Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts. It's as though it's just sweeping in from the borders.

 And then all of a sudden the news comes out. The code has been broken. A cure can be found. A vaccine can be made. Its going to take the blood of somebody who hasn't been infected and so, sure enough, all through the Midwest! , through all those channels of emergency broadcasting, every one is asked to do one simple thing: Go to your local hospital and have your blood tested. That's all we ask of you. When you hear the sirens go off in your neighborhood, please make your way quickly, quietly and safely, to the hospitals.  Sure enough, when you and your family get down there late on that Friday night, there is a long line and they've got nurses and doctors coming out and pricking fingers and taking blood and putting labels on it. Your wife and your kids are out there, and they take your blood type and they say, "Wait here in the parking lot and if we call your name you can be dismissed and go home." You stand around, scared, with your neighbors, wondering what in the world is going on and if this is the end of the world.

 Suddenly a young man comes running out of the hospital screaming. He's yelling a name and waving a clipboard. What? HE! e yells it again! And your son tugs on your jacket and says, "Daddy, that's me." Before you know it, they have grabbed your boy. "Wait a minute. Hold on!" And they say, "It's okay, his blood is clean. His blood is pure. We want to make sure he doesn't have the disease. We think he has got the right type." Five tense minutes later, out come the doctors and nurses crying and hugging one another; some are even laughing. Its the first time you have seen anybody laugh in a week. An old doctor walks up to you and says, "Thank you sir. Your son's blood type is perfect. It's clean, it's pure, and we can make the vaccine."

 As the word begins to spread all across that parking lot full of folks, people are screaming and praying and laughing and crying. But then the gray-haired doctor pulls you and your wife aside and says, "May we see you for a moment? We didn't realize that the donor would be a minor and we need you t o sign a consent form." You begin to sign and then you see that the number of pints of blood to be taken is empty. "H-h-h-ow many pints?" you ask. And that is when the old doctor's smile fades. "We had no idea it would be a little child. We weren't prepared. We need it all. But- but... I don't understand. He's my only son!  "We are talking about the world here. Please sign. We... we need it all!" But can't you give him a transfusion?"  If we had clean blood we would. Please, will you please sign?"

 In numb silence, you do. Then they say, "Would you like to have a moment with him before we begin?" Could you walk back? Could you walk back to that room where he sits on a table saying, "Daddy?  Mommy? What's going on? Could you take his hands and say, "Son, your mommy and I love you and we would never ever let anything happen to you that ! didn't just have to be. Do you understand that?" And when that old doctor came back in and said, "I'm sorry, we've got to get started. People all over the world are dying." Could you leave? Could you walk out while he is saying, "Dad? Mom? Dad? Why... why have you forsaken me?"

 And then next week, when they have the ceremony to honor your son, and some folks sleep through it, and some folks don't even bother to come because they have better things to do, and some folks come with a pretentious smile and just pretend to care. Would you want to jump up and say, "EXCUSE ME! MY SON DIED FOR YOU! DON'T YOU EVEN CARE? DOES IT MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?"

 I wonder, is that what God wants to say? "MY SON DIED FOR YOU! DOES IT MEAN NOTHING? DON'T YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I CARE?"

 Seeing it from Our Father's eyes should break our hearts. Maybe now we can begin to! comprehend the great love he has for all of us.

 So that' s the gospel in a nutshell.