It’s the life stream of the human body; in fact, no part of the body can live without it.

Blood performs many important tasks like supplying our body’s cells with food and oxygen they need for work and growth. It also fights germs that enter the body.

This red fluid flows through 60,000 miles of blood vessels inside each of us, a distance of nearly two and a half times around the earth at the equator. Dr. Richard Swenson writes, “…each blood cell returns back to its cardiac starting place every minute.” Biological info tells us that on average a 160-pound adult has five quarts of blood.

Blood has been called the gift of life. According to the Red Cross, someone who donates a pint of blood can save the lives of three people. The organization estimates that less than 5 percent of eligible donors give blood, though the process only takes about one hour.

Blood cannot be manufactured. It can only come from generous donors, the Red Cross website states. Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood. More than 41,000 blood donations are needed every day. This fact became a reality to me when my 83-year-old mother had triple-bypass surgery recently.

Usually a unit of whole blood is separated into several components. Red blood cells, stored under refrigeration, can last 42 days or, if frozen the day it is collected, it can be stored ten years.

We value the freedoms we enjoy today because of the blood it cost our country to protect and preserve it. Countless men and women in our armed forces have paid the ultimate price with their own lives.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants,” Thomas Jefferson once said.

But the most precious blood ever shed was that of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, whose blood “cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Luke, a physician, described Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, “And being in agony, he prayed the longer. And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:44).

Then He endured a brutal beating and finally, death by crucifixion. Blood and water gushed from His side when pierced by the Roman soldier. Jesus’ blood gave us the gift of eternal life.

More than 2,000 years ago, Jesus shed His blood for all the sins of all mankind forever.

No wonder hymn writers have said, “there is wonder-working power” in His blood and “it will never lose its power.”

I cannot comprehend why He would “shed His own blood for my soul.” A familiar hymn asks, “What can wash away sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

There’s a Gospel song titled “Written in Red,” that reminds me, “I love you, I love you, That’s what Calvary says. I love you. I love you. I love you, written in red.”