So last night at Saturate the whole Saturate staff had the chance to share where they are coming from and kind of what they are sacrificing. It was a cool night. Anyways, I wanted to put what I was dealing with up here on the ‘ol blog, but it’s always kinda sketchy what you can put up here when you know your boss’ and H.R. guys read the blog.

Since I shared this last night, I thought it would be cool dialogue to throw on here, at least you can see where I’m at. Below is my talk in a ‘written’ format.

‘So, there’s this story of a son, and he and his Dad decided to go on a trip. It was a ’spiritual trip’ of sorts. Isaac, the son was looking forward to spending some time with his Dad and learn more about their God. It would have been a sweet trip to go on, they were going to the land of Moriah.

They probably had some good conversations along the way, talking about the world, animals, God, girls, family… you know, all the stuff that you talk to your dad about when you go on a trip.

They finally reach the mountain in which they were going, and Isaac started to notice that they did not have an actual sacrifice to offer to God. If I were Isaac, I would have probably had this idea about how my father and I would have tracked down a ram and captured it for the offering, kind of like an adventure. But, it was a little late for that now. So Isaac asked his dad about the offering, and he replied that ‘God will provide the burnt offering’. How’s he going to do that?

The next thing Isaac realized he was being bound up by his father, and he was going to be the burnt offering!

Imagine the tension Isaac would have been in! He probably had a plan of the trip, and the next thing he knew he was up on the alter, about to be the offering.

You probably know what it feels like to be pulled into something that wasn’t your plan, or God ‘changes’ your plans.

I have another story, this one is a little more personal. About three months ago I was coming up to my one year anniversary with my wife, and I was kind of reflecting back on the year. I was getting excited about the changes the coming at work, and getting really excited about some cool things to be doing with the worship stuff here for Saturate.

Well, the next thing I realized was I was kind of blindsided by an offer from the church for a job change. They felt that I should move into another kind of role for Saturate, which was like a promotion, more responsibility, etc.

Well, that’s not what my plans were. It’s not what I was interested in.

Well, things changed and here I am, 3 months from that time. It’s been interesting. I miss being up on stage, that’s my passion, leading others in worship. But, God has had some other plans for me right now, and put me in the spot I’m in now.

It’s not easy.

It’s not really what I want to be doing.

I’m hurt a little, confused.

Somedays I trust what God is doing, and there are somedays I just want to tell God to leave me alone, because my plan was better.

I find myself up on this alter, my life, more specifically, my occupation is a sacrifice right now.

The thing is, I love working at LCBC, I love the team we have going. We are really moving ahead in some things with this team .

And some weeks it’s hard, sometimes on a daily basis, I have to surrender my plans.

I feel kinda helpless, but know God will somehow provide, like he did for Abraham and Isaac. But, right now it’s hard to think about that. It’s hard to think, well someday I’ll understand why it happened. But that’s someday, not now, so what do I do now? How do I keep going?

I have a feeling that a lot of you are in situations like this in life. You are somewhere relationally, spiritually, with your job, with your parents, that just kinda sucks. You just want to get past it, but you are continually sacrificing in the situation.

So, here’s what keeps me going. You guys. I believe in this community here that meets on Tuesday nights, and on the weekend, on during the week at life groups. I believe in the potential you guys have.

I believe in the team we have leading this.

Even more, I believe in your friends, who aren’t here yet. Saturate happens for your friends, yeah you guys get something out of it, but this is for them. For them to discover their potential in Christ. The freedom they have been given in Christ.

That’s what continues to motivate me. That’s why I want to do a good job at my job. Because if I help create sweet environments that your friends would be willing to come too, it could lead to change.

So my question to you is, are you being sacrificed right now? Are you sacrificing something for others? Are you giving all you are for those in your life, even more importantly, for God?

How are living for more than yourself right now?’

peace,
-a

With that said, he had a really good post today called Beauty at a Second Glance. You can check his post out here, and see the video below.

peace,
-A