Something Better

African daisy photo credit: Jon Sullivan, www.public-domain-image.com

Someone sent a link to me for an article about sacrifice. When I read it, I cried. It just is not your typical write up or sermon about sacrifices where we are either told that we aren't willing enough to make sacrifices, that we don't make enough sacrifices, or that we should minimalize sacrifices we have made because we are somehow holier if we do not admit that serving God can sometimes be hard. Jesus came here prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, his very life, for people who weren't even grateful, and He told us that following Him meant taking up a cross. I don't know about you but that sounds hard.

The writer, Rachel Pieh Jones, is not whining or bitter about sacrifices, but she is honest. She points out that a sacrifice is giving up something precious for something better down the road, and that if we deny the reality of the sacrifice, we cheapen the reward. If have ever loved a missionary or been one, her article, "Why I Will Not Say I Never Made A Sacrifice" is well worth the time.

Some days are hard here. I have only been overseas two years and I have lost three relatives and had to miss their funerals, I've missed the birth of my nephew, missed holidays and birthdays with loved ones, sent a son off to college 6,000 miles away, and missed my daughter's first day of school because I was across the ocean having surgery. The separation from my family and friends IS a sacrifice. The lack of water (none here for the last few days and right now we are out) and electricity and law and order ARE sacrifices. That's not whining. That's reality. Do I ever want to tell God the price is too high? Honestly, there have been a few moments when I did. But what if God had said that when He had to decide whether or not He would sacrifice his Son for me? What if Jesus had said it?

Some days though, I get a glimpse of that "something better" and I am in awe that He would use me here. It happened today during our annual Christmas outreach at the airport where my husband works with the rest of our MAF guys. We were all sitting in the hangar. A crowd was gathered to hear how and why Jesus came to earth, a choir was singing traditional praises to God in Lingala, and in the background, I could see one of our pilots taking off in an MAF plane. Other days it's a hug from an orphan, or a warm greeting from a vendor, or a laugh shared with someone. It could be a conversation about God with my guard or a report of lives given to Christ or a life saved. Some days it's just an amazing sunrise while I'm having coffee with God, as if He put on the whole show just for me.

We are incredibly grateful to be here. I won't deny there are sacrifices. But there is also "something better."