GROWING SEEDS: "The Sacrifice"

My dad is turning 90 this week.  9-0.  

He lives alone after the death of my Mom six years ago; and 90 was a number I never expected my Dad to ever see.  He grieved for years after Mom died and I honestly thought her death would be the death of him as well.

He raised us kids attending the Seventh-day Adventist Church in downtown Dallas and only allowed us to attend Adventist church schools....no public school for his kids.  He himself had grown up an Adventist and was determined to raise us the same.

He worked nights and Mom worked days as a warehouse worker for Sears so they could afford to send us three kids to church school.  They never thought twice about doing what must be done in order for their children to have a solid foundation.  It never entered their minds they had an option.

It's called "Sacrifice".

As Christians, do we fully understand what this word really means?  Webster's defines it this way, "An act of giving up something VALUED for the sake of something else regarded as MORE important or worthy."  It's hard to hear the word Sacrifice and not remember the work Christ did for us 2000 years ago....the very thing that solidified our foundation so we could have a future beyond this life.  

This weekend, my siblings and I will be celebrating our Dad's 90th birthday by showing up at the church he and Mom raised us in.  The very church they sold their beloved wedding rings for to help pay for a school so their children would have a firm foundation.  And as we slowly move towards the anniversary of this sacrifice called Easter, I pray we remember the sacrifice Christ made for each of us on that tree so many years ago...where every drop of blood that spilled from His body had a name on it....including yours.

What is the sacrifice we have made for Him?