Sacrifice

Lately, I'm in one of those times where everything sticks. Let me rephrase that - I feel like I'm a sponge and I'm soaking everything in all the time...The sounds of bike tires swooshing through puddles, the heat of the sun on my back when I'm at the park, the smells of hookah that mix in my senses with the laughter of dear friends...and the words that people speak...the words of sermons and of the Bible. I'm in one of those places where everything feels applicable and alive all the time.

When I think thru all the things I've been really starting to let penetrate deeply into the depths of me - or at least the things that I hope will - at the top of the list is an understanding of sacrifice. I feel like the words are floating around me all the time - the letters of love from God placed in the Bible...in stories from friends....in sermons and in the sweet whispers from the Holy Spirit.

The call to continually risk, sacrifice and live beyond myself...for others.

Last night Murielle told us about her parents. A couple who chose time and again to take in children that weren't their own - to be foster parents and adopted parents and to love those that Jesus did, when no one else was. They kept a modest home, a church van for a car, and worked their best to provide a better life for the kids, because they knew they were worth it. They said a heartfelt "No thanks" to the things that this world tells us is most important - because they believed God at His word that the Kingdom was the most important thing of all.

My friend Seth is leaving for the Sudan in 5 or so weeks. He just graduated with an exemplary GPA, from a very competitive university with a promising degree. But rather than follow the status-quo track ... keeping up with the Joneses with the great job that he certainly is qualified for -- he's going to give his life away for the next two months. To serve children and families in a country that the world is passing over. All because he loves Jesus and believes that He means everything.

And these are just two examples -- time and time again I've had incredible opportunities to watch average people do extraordinary things because they think Jesus is worth it. Worth giving up everything they ever thought they wanted so that somehow they might find all the life He has for them. That even though following His is strange at times and is a life filled with tensions and paradoxes - that the paradox of "To find your life, you must lose it" is TRUE.

I pray that I will become one of these people. That I will respond in obedience to the things that God is asking me to give up or lay down so that I may have the fullness of what He has for me. That I would learn to follow Him in life of sacrifice and submission and obedience. I can't keep holding up the merits of past sacrifice...He's always asking for more of me and risking and going the next mile. I want to finish well.