To obey is better than sacrifice
A season of change is on us here at Hawane. In May we’ll be saying goodbye to many of our volunteers – our lovely Swedish friends Emelie, Lina, and Julia, as well as lovely Kirsty from Scotland. So we’ll be downsizing – from 7 girls in our house to 3. It’s going to be quite change. Much quieter. And possibly much cleaner! Really though, we’re going to be missing them all terribly. But on a positive note – we get to spend 4 days relaxing and spending time together before they leave – in Mozambique on the beach!
This week the kids on the farm are on school holidays. Unfortunately for them, it doesn’t actually mean they get a break from school because here at Hawane we have Holiday School! Even though it might not be so fun for them, so far for us it’s been a blast. It’s been a great change of schedule, change of pace, and change of environment. I’m working with the teenage kids mostly – but we’ve spent a lot of time doing “math” bingo and playing hangman to practice spelling and English. So maybe it’s not too bad for them either!
This month we, the AR interns, are reading No Compromise – the Keith Green Story. And wow. If you haven’t read it – GO GET ONE RIGHT NOW! The passion, desire, and drive that Keith had were incredible – after finding the truth, Jesus. Keith searched long and hard, through many different spiritual paths and religions, until he found the truth. And then he ran with it. Just the way he and his wife Melody lived their lives together is amazing.
But I was talking to Amy the other day about being radical. What I said was that “radical” people usually don’t realize what they’re doing is radical. To them they are just doing what makes sense – just taking the opportunities God has placed in front of them. Radical people don’t go out looking to do something radical. To them it seems normal. They just know it’s what they should do. So they do it. I don’t think we have to go looking for something “radical” to do with our lives. If we just take the opportunities that God places in front of us, if we just say “yes”, if we just obey! That is being radical. But in order to listen we have to be willing to open our ears. We have to wake up and realize God might be calling us to be very uncomfortable – in fact he is!
One of the lyrics that really hit me hard from the book was this:
To obey is better than sacrifice
I don’t need your money I want your life
And I hear you say that I’m coming back soon
But you act like I’ll never return
Well you speak of grace and my love so sweet
How you thrive on milk but reject my meat
And I can’t help weeping at how it will be
If you keep on ignoring my Word
To obey is better than sacrifice-
I want more than Sundays and Wednesday nights.
Cause if you can’t come to me every day,
Then don’t bother coming at all.
It’s a harsh word. And it’s debatable (the last line), but really – think about it. Don’t just throw it away automatically. Think about it.
