Last week, those in the area in which we live experienced something that doesn’t happen often: we had cold, icy weather.  Many of our children were out of school for three days, and many businesses closed their doors for a day or two due to the icy conditions.

Thankfully, those in our area knew the cold, icy weather was coming. But for people in the Birmingham, AL, and Atlanta, GA, areas, they had no idea.  Winter Storm Leon wasn’t supposed to go that far north.  So for a lot of people, they were stranded at work, school, stores, and on the roads when the ice began to fall from the sky.  It is estimated that over 11,000 people were stranded in schools across Alabama on Tuesday night of last week.

In the midst of all the chaos, inspirational stories began to emerge of good Samaritans who took people in, helped provide food, and rescued people from car accidents due to the icy roads.

But probably one of the most inspirational stories that surfaced was about a Birmingham doctor who walked approximately six miles to perform life-saving brain surgery.  Dr. Zenko Hrynkiw was at Brookwood Medical Center on Tuesday morning when he received a call about a patient at Trinity Medical Center who needed emergency surgery.  Dr. Hrynkiw got in his car, but didn’t make it more than a few blocks before traffic stopped. Knowing he needed to hurry, Dr. Hrynkiw got out of his car and walked about six miles in the snow and ice to Trinity Medical Center.  He arrived at the hospital, performed the surgery, and saved the patient’s life. It’s truly a story of courage and heroism. 

But what if Dr. Hrynkiw had decided that the patient’s life wasn’t worth walking six miles in the snow and ice? What if he decided that it was too difficult to get there, and that there was nothing he could do? Thankfully, he didn’t make that decision. And thankfully, there was something he could do. *

Because of our sins, WE are in a desperate, deadly condition (Romans 6:23).  But God loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus – “the Great Physician” – to provide the remedy for our sins (John 3:16).  Jesus came “from a great distance” in comparatively deplorable conditions (read Philippians 2:6-8), but He came anyway – because He loves us.

Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32).

And the truth is.... We have ALL sinned! (Romans 3:23)

It cost Jesus His life in order to provide the remedy for our sin: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

The Great Physician will save those who: place their faith and trust in Him (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He will continue to “make whole” those who continue to walk in the light of His word (1 John 1:7).

Won’t YOU accept the Great Physician’s remedy for YOUR sin-sick soul?