I just got an email from Bob Hills, fellow Christian and director and chaplain of IndyCar Ministries. It's reprinted below with his permission.
I join Bob in urging everyone to be an organ donor. I have been for 30 years and my wife, children and parents are crystal clear on my wishes that in the event of my death, any needed organs be donated. Dude, I'm not going to need my organs if I'm DEAD. I find the idea of my life-giving organs being burried or cremated with my body repellant in every way.
It's easy to be an organ donor in Iowa. Just say "yes" at the Department of Motor Vehicles when you get your driver's license. Check out my stylish donor license indication above! You also need to make sure your next-of-kin know your donation wishes. Much more on organ donation at http://organdonor.gov.
Bob's note is below. Get on it.
From Bob Hills, Director Chaplain:
Happy New Year from Tampa, Florida!
I am writing this note to you from Tampa General Hospital where a good friend of mine, Bobby Womack, just had a Bi-Lateral Lung transplant. Sitting and waiting, which is what you do a great deal of in hospitals, has caused me to reflect. In the past few months Scott Roembke (Rahal Letterman Racing) received a heart and lung transplant from a donor and is recovering. Awesome, thanks for donors! Yet in 2011 our racing family has experienced some significant losses. The deaths of Dan Wheldon, Chris Griffiths (Sam Schmidt Racing), Mark Bridges (former official) and Tom Carneige (IMS Voice of the 500) to name a few. The way our season ended was a great loss as well. But as I think about Bobby’s transplant I am reminded that good can come from great loss. In order for Bobby Womack and Scott Roembke to receive their transplant someone had to die! This past Thursday Bobby’s donor was in an accident and Bobby received their lungs! He is doing great today after surgery and I would ask that you pray that he continues to do well. Pray for Scott Roembke’s recovery as well.
With the losses we receive there are blessings that will come. At the moment we may not know what all those blessings will be but in time we will see them if we look for them. With Dan Wheldon’s death we pray that we can make our racing safer and do things even better than we have ever done! Loosing people we love makes us stop our busy lives and reflect! Think more of others than of ourselves!!! What am I doing??? Why am I doing what I am doing??? Reflection and evaluation is not a bad thing it is a good thing! Just as donors gave new life to Bobby Womack and Scott Roembke our faith and realization in Christ reminds us that Christ gave His life so we could have a “New Life” ! That is the point of the Christmas Story and the Easter Story that is told each and every year! Because of our faith in Christ we receive forgiveness, which makes it possible to go on and to forgive others, and we receive eternal life! Awesome!
You and I can commit to being a donor. We could place ourselves on the donor list with our driver’s license (BMV) or power of attorney. That way when our life here on earth ends we can give life to someone else! Even if we don’t give something of our physical life we can donate something in 2012 to help bring “New Life” to someone in our family our community and in our racing family. Give some time to help! Give some “thing” to help someone else. Give some money to help. Give something of your talent to someone else. Connect or reconnect with Faith in Christ! We truly are blessed! Yes we all will have challenges but we are still very blessed compared to many!
Let’s make 2012 a great year!
All I learned from this post is that Bill's eye color is officially "BRO". Do they have funnels and cans of Schlitz at the ready at the DMV whenever they fill out a license with that on it?
Seriously, though, total no brainer here. Anybody who doesn't commit to being an organ donor has some very misplaced priorities. It takes literally 5 seconds to make such a thing happen. And that liver, while doing you a great service on your average 3-case weekend (or maybe that's just me), will do nobody any good if it winds up in a box well below the ground. Check the box, folks.
Posted by: The Speedgeek | January 03, 2012 at 09:32 PM