give ’em your best

That’s at the core of sacrificial giving.  As I wrote yesterday, when I clean out my closet, donating clothes that I never wear and won’t miss, it’s not much of a sacrifice.  Oh sure, I might wear that shirt someday, but I’ve got plenty of others…

I mentioned that Levi sang with the worship team this weekend (actually he tore it up!)  He took the lead part on Manifesto (City Harmonic).  To quote our wordsmith drummer (What’s up Steve?), “That song was sick yo.”  Levi got called into action because our worship team/church was practicing some radical generosity and sacrificial giving.

A line from Pastor Dan’s sermon a couple of weeks ago has been rumbling around in my brain.  I can’t seem to shake it, and I’m pretty sure that I’m not supposed to.  Dan was teaching about Paul’s statement to the church at Philippi:  For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  One of the markers of that kind of mentality and commitment is choosing to suffer, to sacrifice, to give–even at our own pain and cost.  That’s part of the New Normal.  You can listen to the sermon here.  Oh so good…

So when Jorn Junod (yep, the same guy who is demolishing and transforming our garage/laundry room!) called to say they needed some help with worship at their church last Sunday, we sent them our best.

*disclaimer: I’m not flipping you off.  I”m missing the tip of my left middle finger, and that’s what you get when you make a fist in gloves without that fingertip.

I love leading worship with KimD.  We’ve been partners in this ministry thing for many years.  We know each other, feed off of each other…we’ve worked together long enough to know what the other is going to do even without talking about it.  We’re a team.

She’s our best.  So we sent our best.  It made things a little tricky for us, sure.  It cost us.  But the worship at midtown was sweet, and the Lord moved at Discovery Road through Kim.

When we (SELF) are not at the center of our lives, when we’re aligned with Paul’s statement (to live is Christ) then we find that our personal preferences and comforts matter less.  What’s good for us doesn’t mean as much.  We can choose to be self-less, to think of others more.  In that line of thinking and living, we can choose to make things harder on ourselves in order to be a blessing to others.

That’s a lesson that I want to hang on to, and want to put into practice more and more each day.