Sacrifice

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you all having a great day as this Saturday morning dawns! Additionally, I hope you have had a great week.

It is warm and very muggy on the Texas Gulf Coast this morning. We are supposed to be getting a lot of rain from Hurricane Patricia which made landfall as a Category 5 Hurricane in Mexico last night. Early reports are promising and the storm is rapidly weakening however I respectfully ask for your thoughts & prayers for all those touched by this storm, as well as the convergence of multiple other storms which is bringing severe rain to many areas of Texas.

Sacrifice.

Merriam-Webster defines sacrifice as the act of giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone.

Merriam-Webster defines self-sacrifice as the act of giving up something that you want to have or keep in order to help someone else.

How are you at sacrifice, or self-sacrifice? I mean really? I know for me it can be a struggle. I think the struggle for any of us falls somewhere along a continuum...we find where we are comfortable and what we are willing to sacrifice, or not, accordingly. You want me to give someone this drink? OK, I will sacrifice that. You want me to change my behavior? Uh... You want me to selflessly give to someone else, purely for their benefit, knowing that I will get nothing in return and they may be rude or nasty to me?!?! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

I have many, many blessings in my life. Four of the greatest blessings are my Beautiful Bride, Kathy and my Tender Warriors, Payton, Gehrig & Landry. God has used, and continues to use, each one of them in my life to help me grow to become the Godly man, husband, father, friend & leader He created me to become. There are times, many times, where He speaks to me through them - their words & actions. This morning I want to share an example of sacrifice & self-sacrifice from Landry, the one I like to call The Little Preacher.

Landry is 10-years old. This mean he has 2 speeds - full throttle and complete rest. If he is awake he is on the go - learning, exploring & growing. If you don't have track shoes on you have no chance of keeping up with this dude! And when it comes time to shut it down at night he is completely out. Sleep is critically important to him - it is how he grows, and most importantly to him, it is how his battery gets recharged so he can go full-speed ahead again tomorrow. So imagine my....what is the right word? Intrigue? Interest? Not surprise, for deep, thoughtful things the Little Preacher says and does no longer surprise me - he IS the Little Preacher!...when about a month ago he asked his Mom to wake him up 30 minutes earlier than he had to get up the next morning. He was quickly peppered with questions; "Did you forget to do your homework?", "Do you have to study for a test?", "Oh no, are you building something?!" He looked at Mom & me and said, "No, I want to get up early so I can be with Dad & Gehrig before they leave in the morning." You see, with our schedules the Little Preacher doesn't really have to get up until after Gehrig & I have already left for the day. Something in his sweet spirit told him this was no good. So for the past month Landry has gotten up 30 minutes early and he immediately comes down to my bathroom as I get ready for work and we talk. We talk about our day, things we hope for and dream of accomplishing, etc. We then move to the kitchen table for breakfast where we visit with Mom & Gehrig. All of this is made possible because a 10-year old Little Preacher, listening to his own spirit, has decided to sacrifice 30 minutes of sleep a night simply so he can spend some time with his Dad & Brother. It is a perfect picture of sacrifice.

While awed by this Little Preachers willingness to sacrifice, what leaves me speechless - I truly cannot think of an adequate adjective to describe it! - is his level of self-sacrifice. You know, the giving up of something you want part. It kills me the level of self-sacrifice, perhaps self or spirit-control, he has. I have watched this boy want to do something so badly that tears welled up in his eyes when I told him he could not however he honored his Dad and did what his Dad told him instead of what he wanted to do. I have darn near had arguments with him over the food we are going to get when we are sharing because he won't get what he wants to get...he insists on getting what I want, or what he thinks I want. If only I had self-sacrifice like him! My Heavenly Father asks me to do tons of things I don't want to do and sadly, way too often, I do what I want instead of what I feel in my Spirit God has told me to do. I can't sit here and recall a single time when I have tears welling up in my eyes because I am doing what God wants me to do instead of doing what I want to do, but doing what God wants. The picture of Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane comes to mind. I thank you and praise you Lord that Landry is much more like Jesus than like his Dad. The perfect picture of self-sacrifice.

Can you relate to any of this Friends? Maybe you can relate more to the Little Preacher than to me...I hope so. If however you are more like me, I want to offer you hope & encouragement. As adults we grow, experience life, see things and we then begin to think we have the answers, or have to have the answers. This is what the world tells us. We then try to act in our own power and, as a result, become completely powerless. You see, I will never be strong enough in my own knowledge, wisdom, strength or courage to sacrifice or self-sacrifice as God calls me to do. It is only through the Holy Spirit living in & through me that I will be able to do these things. This is our hope, our encouragement...God living in us in the form of the Holy Spirit. We can have this power, and the ability to sacrifice/self-sacrifice, however it will only be fully attained through complete surrender to Him.  

How about that part in the definition of sacrifice that said, "in order to get or do something," how does it apply? Well, every choice has a consequence. Regret or peace. Which do you have? Which do you want? I can tell you from personal experience, the times I have listened to my Spirits conviction led to great peace and that times I didn't have led to great regret. I prefer peace. Do you want to be a person that truly values & cherishes others? That lifts other people up? That helps your spouse, children, friends & co-workers become the best they are capable of becoming? According to thesaurus.com, the Antonyms of sacrifice are continue, deny, disallow, fight, gain, keep, refuse, reject, win, withhold, hold. Without sacrifice we will not be able to become the best we are capable of becoming or encourage, empower or equip others to become the best they can become.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev