A Stomach: Need or Want?

The next time I say, "I need central air" or "I need a new computer", I hope I remember the shuttle driver.  

I was bouncing along in the mechanic shop shuttle, which was giving me a free ride to a place of business while the mechanics nosed out a manufacturer's error in my Fiesta.  Rain splattered the windshield of the  courtesy shuttle, and the shuttle driver with the red fleece vest activated the windshield wipers as we turned north on Ironwood.  

"I suppose you'd rather have the conventional stomach, but it's not too bad," he said.

Other than a foggy memory from nursing school, I had kind of forgotten that stomachs are disposable.  

Turns out, they are.  You can't live without your heart or brain, but you can dispense with your stomach.  You need at least one lung and at least one kidney, but if push comes to shove, you don't need a stomach.  

The guy in the driver's seat of my shuttle had lost his in the process of a battle with stomach cancer. 

Being grateful when our blessings evaporate is a challenge.  Being positive about pain is hard.  Being okay with the loss of what we thought we needed....so difficult!  But we never know whose life we might touch. 

I'm pretty sure if someone told the shuttle driver, "I think you blessed that Mennonite girl the other day," he would say, "Don't be ridiculous, I'm sure not."

But he would be wrong.