This morning I saw this photo of Mineral County paramedics Jordan Hayes and Shay Teter taken by and shared by Mahogany Images. All credit for this photo goes to Mahogany Images. I always like to add a photo to my blog so an image shows up when it is shared on Facebook. (I apologize to Jordan, Shay, and everyone else who I use in a blog post without asking for permission, but nobody would ever give me permission if I asked.)
I started to comment, “Baby face… You’ve got the cutest little baby face!” regarding Jordan’s clean shaven middle school look. Jordan, like many other health care workers and first responders, has to shave on a regular basis. UPMC Western Maryland employee Joe Appel, who I see pretty regularly at church, comes to mind as well. Joe looks super strange without facial hair. Jordan and Joe and countless others had to skip no shave November this year. They have pretty much been maintaining the clean shaven look since March because they have to wear masks to protect themselves from Covid.
However, rather than make a smarty pants comment about Jordan’s baby face (which is my nature), the Holy Spirit said to me, “Do not make fun of him. This is what sacrifice looks like”. And in this case, sacrifice is even wearing a smile.
Sacrifice comes in many different forms. Sometimes sacrifice requires one to go live in Haiti and sometimes it requires you to stay in Short Gap. Sometimes it requires you to give up seeing your family who is living in Switzerland and sometimes it requires you to give up spending Thanksgiving with loved ones who live up just up the road. Sometimes it requires you to work all day and then come home and help your kids with virtual school. I cannot possibly cover all the different sacrifices people are making in this difficult season.
But I have to end today’s post giving thanks for those who are sacrificing of themselves for the benefit of others. And I especially want to give thanks for Jesus, who sacrificed Himself for me.
“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” – C.T. Studd
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Scott Knowlton's Blog 