PrayerPoint is a bimonthly prayer digest of Samaritan's Purse that was created so you can join us in this essential aspect of the ministry. A subscription to PrayerPoint is free with your gift of any amount.

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PrayerPoint archive

The emergency room at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya was suddenly overwhelmed.

“Several casualty patients arrived at the same time,” Dr. Paul Osteen said. “A dispute over cows had turned ugly. Guns were fired, two people were killed, and the rest were brought to our hospital.”

Dr. Osteen was on a short-term assignment with World Medical Mission, the medical arm of Samaritan’s Purse. He and another surgeon, Dr. Russ White, were on call when the wounded cattle herders arrived. One man with a gunshot wound was close to death.

“The patient became unstable,” Dr. Osteen recalled. “His blood pressure dropped, he was cold, and his blood was as thin as Kool-Aid. All of us at the OR table knew that the combination of a cold patient in shock, with continued bleeding, is often a spiral that cannot be reversed, quickly leading to death.”

When a call for blood revealed that none was available, Dr. White, a thoracic surgeon on the staff at Tenwek, rushed to the lab.

“Fifteen minutes later, he returned with a big bag of warm blood,” Dr. Osteen said. “Everyone in the operating theatre knew that the blood that saved this man’s life was Dr. Russ’s.”

Later, the two doctors visited the patient and asked the man if he knew Jesus. He said he didn’t.

“Then Dr. Russ explained that it was one thing for him to give his blood to save this young man’s physical life, but 2,000 years ago Jesus gave His blood to save us and give us eternal life,” Dr. Osteen said. “Even though the young man didn’t commit his life to Jesus that night, I believe a seed was planted in his heart that he will never forget.

“That night, in a remote mission hospital if Africa, I was reminded that we have no words to convey our gratitude for what Jesus has done for us.”