Sacrifice?

A few weeks ago a short term missionary said to me, "Thank you for all the sacrifices you are making to be here."  And I had to stop and think... What sacrifices am I really making?

 Compared to Jesus - NOTHING.

I look around me and I see a nice home, time to spend teaching my children, air conditioning and the money it takes to keep it running.  Our physical needs are well taken care of.  We have no problem getting our kids what they need.  We don't have to deprive ourselves or our children of things that we want just for fun. 


It took a while but I finally started to see things that we are sacrificing.  We only have 5 TV channels in a language we understand.  There are more bugs -shiver- here than we are used to having around.  It's hot and muggy.  We sweat - a lot!  Our children tend to get stinky because they sweat, too.  We can't pick up the phone and call our families because if we are awake, there is a good chance that they are asleep. But all these things are pretty minor.  Irritating sometimes, but in the long run not worth getting upset about.

Admittedly, we have days when we let the molehills turn into mountains.  We get tired of being hot and sticky.  We wish we could give our kids a bath... in a bathtub.  But we always come back to why we are here.

1 Peter 3:18 (NIV)
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

THAT is sacrifice.  Shopping in a smelly market instead of shopping at a supermarket?  Not so much.  So I think I'll stick to my story of not really making sacrifices to be here.  God seems to want us here right now, so here we are.  I can't do a fraction of what He has done, so I will just do my best to show Him to the people around me here.