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Key Bible Verse: He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God (1 Peter 1:19).

Daniel was born with a degenerative heart condition. It remained in remission during his childhood. He lived a normal kid's life filled with friends, baseball, and drama. But in his junior year of high school, he had massive heart failure. By late 1980, he had spent several months at Stanford Medical Center, waiting for a heart transplant. On December 22 the doctors sent Daniel home for Christmas, expecting him to die before they could find a heart for him. But he was immediately rushed back to the hospital because they had a heart donor, and at age 17, Daniel had a successful heart-transplant operation.

On Christmas day, his mom read Luke 2 to Daniel while he was in recovery. Then she tackled the get-well cards from people all over the country. In a card from the Midwest, she read the following:

Dear Daniel,

Even though we do not know you, my husband and I feel so close to you and your family. Our only son, Lloyd, was your heart donor. Knowing that you have his heart has made our loss so much easier to bear.

With all our love, Paul and Barbara Chambers

"I couldn't fight the tears any longer," Daniel wrote later. "And suddenly I knew more clearly than ever the real reason why I should be celebrating Christmas. In dying, the Chambers's only son had given me life. In dying, God's only Son had given life, eternal life. Now I felt like shouting out loud my thanks that Jesus Christ was born!"

—Jim Burns in Devotions on the Run

Adapted from Devotions on the Run (Gospel Light, 2004) by permission.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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