Love Finds a Way

    Larry Swilling loves his wife. They’ve been married for fifty-eight years, and he wants to keep her for as many more as possible. So when he learned that she was having kidney failure (she was born with only one) and would need a transplant soon to stay alive, he was heartbroken. He knew that at her age (76) she wouldn’t be on top of the waiting list. So he decided to take matters into his own
hands, and went out looking for a donor. He made a large sandwich board sign that read, “Need kidney 4 wife”, and wore it walking through town for 15 miles the first day, in 97 degree heat. A couple

of days later, he walked 54 miles wearing the sign. When a local news media team saw him, they stopped and interviewed him and the story went viral. Within a few days, over 2,000 offers came in, but none were O-positive, his wife’s blood type. Until a 41-year-old woman in Virginia Beach read about the story and offered hers.
    Larry’s wife has her kidney and is alive and well, and Larry still has his wife. Do you think Sue Swilling knows that she is loved? I don’t think there is any doubt.
    A couple of things come to mind, not the least of which is the way some guys treat their wives compared to this man. Larry Swilling is a real man. He loves his wife and and is willing to sacrifice for her, not only with his own discomfort, but as a demonstration in front of the world. How far would you go to save your wife’s life? How far would you go to let her know that you love her? Does the way you treat her in the day-to-day lead her to believe that?
    But I saw an even greater message in this story. Larry’s love drove him to the extremes of creativity and personal sacrifice. God’s love for us did so in an even greater way. He devised a way to restore us, and he found a suitable donor in his Son. If Sue Swilling ought to know that she is loved, you and I ought to know that in an even greater way.
    “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).
    “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).