At the beginning of this month our entire squad spent a few days in Mendoza, Argentina having what will be our last LDW as a way to kick start month 11 of the race. For those of you who don’t know what LDW is…well let me take a second to tell you…
LDW…also known as Leadership development weekend…is 2-3 days that occurs 2 or 3 times throughout the year, at the end of a month (for us, at the end of Zambia, Thailand and Chile) where we come together and we worship, and have members from the squad get up and talk about things they’ve been learning, or things that they’ve been hearing God tell them they need to share with the rest of us.
So ya, we just finished our third and final LDW this last weekend, and let me tell you it was awesome. Getting to spend time with each other in Mendoza, and worshiping together and just pouring into each other was awesome. A much needed refresher before heading into this final month. On our last night at LDW, Mary was talking about Sacrifice….the intentional sacrifices and the unintentional sacrifices that allowed us to be able to come on the World Race this year…and since that discussion that night, sacrifices have been in my head and on my heart…so I thought I’d take today to talk to you about them as well…
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Sacrifice according to dictionary.com is: “the offering of animal, plant, or human life or of some material possession to a deity, as in propitiation or homage; the person, animal, or thing so offered;the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim; the thing so surrendered or devoted.”
When I think of sacrifice often two stories from the Bible come to mind…the first is probably the most obvious being Christ on the Cross. Not only did Christ sacrificed his life for ours, to pay a debt he didn’t even earn; God the Father sacrificed his one and only son. A sacrifice that no doubt hurt him to make, but one that he chose to make anyways. The second story of sacrifice I think of, one that relates to where I’mm going in this blog is where Abraham is willing to sacrifice his son Isaac. Though in the end God didn’t have Abraham actually kill/sacrifice his son, the fact that Abraham was willing to do it, to give him up, to obey what God was asking him to do is something not to be taken lightly; and what you can learn from his obedience, is that God honors our sacrifices…and sometimes he ask’s you to sacrifice something just to see if you will obey him and do it, and then ends up not making you make that sacrifice after all.
When we all left for the World Race in January we knew that we would be making sacrifice and that our family and friends back home would have to make some too. There are both intentional and unintentional sacrifices that we made for this year. We left knowing that we would have to give up our communities, our families, our friends, church, missing big events like weddings, and births of family members. Our families and friends had to sacrifice their time with us as well. They had to give up the hope that we’d be their for some major life events, like weddings…they had to give up the expectation of seeing us everyday or talking on the phone with us whenever they want and so much more. But along with intentional sacrifices that we all have made this year there have also been unintentional sacrifices along the way, For example, I didn’t know until after I left that I’d be missing my sister Kake’s entire second pregnancy and the birth of my newpher Isaac…I didn’t know that I’d miss my G-pa having to have emergency brain surgery to remove a tumor from his brain… I knew he had cancer, I knew that there was a possibility that she could get pregnant I just didn’t know if it would happen.
But I think there are other types of unintentional sacrifices as well…I knew leaving home I’d be leaving behind family and friends. I expected it to be hard and I knew that it would be a sacrifice, but somewhere along the way I think I forgot how hard it would be on them…how hard it would be on one-specific friend in general. I didn’t take into account that he’d be affected by the changes back home and having to deal with the difficulty and the effects that the distance would have on our friendship this year while all I had to deal with was how it affected me.I think sometimes in our sacrifices we unintentionally forget about the sacrifices others have made, or we unintentionally cause harder sacrifices for them.
Good news though…GOD HONORS our sacrifices. This is something God has been teaching me these last few weeks. He reminded me it as I was telling some women at a small group the other night here in Argentina about how God made it possible for me to go home to surprise my sister for her wedding. As I was telling the story, I realized how God really honors our sacrifices. I was prepared when I left for the Race to not go home, to not see her get married, and she was prepared for just a skype call the day of the wedding and for me not to be there. It was a hard choice to leave in January knowing I’d be missing it but I went. I knew that God had a greater plan for me, and that he wanted me out on the field.
I was okay with my decision, but I could tell it hurt her. I could tell we both wanted me there and I prayed about it. But I didn’t think AIM would let me go…after all she wasn’t my bio sister, and on top of that I didn’t have money anyways to go. But I prayed. Then in February our Squad Mentor Beka was with my team and somewhere along the way the subject of the wedding came up and she said you should go she’s your sister. And i was like wow, that’s one answered prayer. An I thought about it but I still didn’t have money, and I prayed about it and part of me was like, we’ll after everything our family has been through with Calvin’s brain hemorrhage it would be nice to be home for a positive event in our lives. But I still didn’t think I could afford it. At the end of month 2 we were in Monkeybay, Malawi and I was talking to one of my squad mates about it and next thing I know she offered to front me the money…I was like wow, this is seriously about to happen…next thing I know tickets are bought and I’m leaving Cambodia to fly the wedding to suprise her. Like I’ve said in other blog posts it’s was great.
However, as I was explaining this story to this group of women the other night at small group, I realized how God played a hand in it all. He made it possible for me to go. The wedding was on the only weekend of the race I could feasibly go, AIM okayed it, and the finances came through… God knew that I was willing to sacrifice it to do his work, and God knew Shelby was willing to sacrifice her wanting me to be there for me to do his work. Just like Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, God stopped him from doing so when he say that Abraham was being obedient. In being obedient to what God was telling me to do in going on the race God honored all my sacrifices and the sacrifices of others, and made it possible for me to go.
In our obedience, God honors…but here’s the thing how do we honor those sacrifices that we have made or that you back home have made for us. Well for starters by telling you thank you. Thank you for being willing to make those sacrifices, of time, money, prayer, etc…to be there for us, to support us along the journey. THANK YOU to MY WORLD for making the sacrifices you did for me to be able to come on this journey this year.
Secondly, we can (I can) honor our sacrifices by living my(our) life(ves) in obedience to the Lord. Living in a way that shows him to others, that shows how making sacrifices is worth it.
Thirdly, by taking what God has taught me, and shown me this year and using it to show others to him. By taking care of the Gifts God has given me this year. Gifts like, learning to let people in, loving people better, trusting him, and so much more. By not slipping back into old ways, not treating this year like it was a one time experience and forgetting everything I’ve learned on it.
Lastly, by not Quitting, Preserving, and being Fully Committed to furthering the kingdom…
Those are things I can do…what you can do…you can keep me accountable, you can push me to continue to grow, you can let me teach and show you some of the stuff I’ve learned this year. We can continue to grow together, to Preserve and Fully Commit to furthering God’s Kingdom…God honors our sacrifices, let’s honor our own by honoring God.
“To do what is right and just
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”
