Sacrifice

   Sacrifice is a word that is used very freely these days with little understanding about what sacrifice is. It is a word I have used at times and later regretted using it. With what I do and where I do it I see poverty at a level few will ever see other than in a commercial or a movie. I have seen children eating left overs found in a trash dump. I have visited with people whose homes were nothing more than some scrap wood and plastic. But it wasn’t sacrifice it was situational. I have been told by people what a sacrifice I make by coming here. I try to tell them I sacrifice nothing compared to some.  This past weekend I saw sacrifice. I saw dedication to serving on a whole different level.
 
  I was chatting with a friend the other day who was telling me a story about a Pastor and his wife who were relocating to a different area to minister. They were staying with friends while trying to sell their home so they wouldn’t have two mortgages. They were searching for a church home to serve at as leaders. It all sounded great at the beginning of the story. Then came the sad part of the story. They were looking for a home in the $5-600k price range with 5 bedrooms.  Now at first I was thinking they must have kids and will need the room. Well sadly that was not the case as all of their kids were gone. They said that they had become used to a home that size and needed the space. They said they were willing to “sacrifice” and go with a 4 bedroom if the size of the house was enough and it was in a good community. I was almost in tears at this point. Then it came time to talk about what kind of church they were looking to serve at. The Pastors response was “well we need to be paid well because we are used to living well”. Now I am getting a little mad.  I am thinking this dude needs to come here and see how I live and do things before he talks about sacrifice.
 
  The day after hearing this story I went on a mission trip to visit a pastor friend with 50 or so others from local churches. We were going to evangelize and encourage the pastor and invite people to his church. The last pastor had let the church pretty much die and it had no members left. The pastor that took over is named Silver. Silver is a young pastor only 23 years old. He and his wife and 6 month child moved in to the “pastoral house” located next to the church. It is a 15x15 building constructed of locally milled wood and a tin roof. There is only one room but a curtain dividing the house gives it two rooms. There is neither electricity nor running water. There is actually no water at all because the well has run dry. With there being no members there is no tithing so no income for the pastor.
 
  I was honestly focusing on myself as I thought of the pastor that wanted the big house and big salary. I was getting ready to be up in the mountains with no electricity or water. No cell phone or laptop. Not even a bed just a hammock to sleep in. I would be outside sleeping with all of the bugs and stuff (nica has some scary looking bugs). I wouldn’t get a “proper” shower  the next day just a bucket of water poured over my head if I was lucky. I almost called to say I wasn’t going to go.  God was probably shaking his head at me in disappointment when I considered backing out because I wasn’t going to be comfortable.
Once there I looked at the pastors house and thought “wow how selfish are you”? This guy who is smart and more than capable of going and finding work to support his family is living here with none of the things we “think” we can’t live without. He wakes up in the morning with one sole purpose and that is to serve God. He walks the community because he has no car or motorcycles not even a bicycle. He visits the people to offer prayer and counsel. He went to a church that was dead. No members to speak of and took it one with an unwavering faith.  That was sacrifice right there for me to see.  We get so comfortable in our lives that we rarely realize we don’t need half of the stuff we have and take fore granted the things we have that others desperately need.  We think if we take part of our bonus check and instead of getting a new pair of golf clubs we give part of it to the church. Not all of it you know because we need that for vacation and stuff. We sacrifice by DVRing the game instead of watching it live so we can go play on the church softball league because that’s “serving” in the church ya know!
 
​   I sacrifice nothing to do what I do here. I don’t have AC but neither did people for 100s of years before me. I have security here, no one is trying to kill me like missionaries in the Middle East and Asia. I don’t have a TV but there is nothing worth watching anyways. I live alone and am single but I have a huge support group here and at home.  I always have a way to eat as friends are always willing to share a meal. I don’t talk to my family that often but they are only a phone call away.
 
  God wants us to sacrifice things for him. He always has. He sacrificed his son but we can’t sacrifice more than two days a week to show how we appreciate that sacrifice. We have to give him our all. All of our talents, time, riches, and most of all an undying love just as he gives us.