A Sacrifice of Love

By Rob Furlong
Challenge Newspaper ed. 302 April 2008

Have you heard the story of the young boy with a rare blood disease who required a blood transfusion to live?

Examinations were conducted on the family and it came to light that the boy’s younger brother could be the donor of the life saving blood. The boy was asked if he was prepared to help his brother, he agreed and so the procedure went ahead on the scheduled day.

When the transfusion was completed , the young boy who donated the blood looked up at the doctor with a resolute expression on his face and asked, “Is this when I die now?” He quite literally thought that this would cost him his life, yet despite his fear, he was prepared to sacrifice himself for his brother.

Such courage and sacrifice is rare indeed. We see it in war time when young men and women lay down their lives for the protection and defence of their country. We see it in people who sacrificially give of their time and possessions in the service of others. And we see it in marriages…or at least we should do.

I am convinced that the number on reason why marriages often fail is because of selfishness. One partner (and sometimes both) is not prepared to give up some of their wants and needs in order to help meet their partner’s needs. Sometimes it has not even occurred to them that the other person actually has any needs!

When I prepare a couple for marriage and we come to the part about the wedding ceremony, most often they request that 1 Corinthians 13, the famous love chapter of the Bible, be read. It is a wonderful piece of writing, but I think they are sometimes confused about the meaning of it. It really is telling us that love is sacrificial; that it is more intent on meeting the needs of others and putting them first rather than a romantic treatise extolling the virtues of love. In case you are not familiar with it, or have forgotten it, this is what it says:

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head.
Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first”
Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Love gives. Love looks for the best. Love doesn’t hold grudges. In short, love sacrifices.
If you take those words seriously and apply them to your marriage then it will mean this: when all you can see is each other’s faults, your love for each other will choose to find the good in your partner; when you come home tired from work your love will give your wife some time out…because she has had a rough day as well; and when you argue, your love for each will choose to forgive.

Love is about sacrifice…it’s time we practised it’s true meaning.

Here 'ye Here 'ye

My good friend, Dodgy Pete has started up his own blog.

I encourage you all to go check it out. He has always got some thought provoking stuff going on and he constantly challenges me through life.

At the moment he is stirring us all up in small goup about baptism....sigh....don't get me started....or him!!!

Anyway....I still love him, and I would love you to go check him out (his blog....not him....unless your a hot single chick ;) )

Dodgy Pete's Ramblings

This is how I feel at the moment!!

from here

8.2 weeks

*groan*

I am feeling like absolute crap. I can’t get a decent nights sleep because I am tossing and turning all night and whenever I wake up I am starving and feeling like I’m going to puke everywhere. I wake up, feel like vomiting, so I grab something to eat and it takes me a while to get going.

But, it is all worth it. I don’t care how bad it gets. I will try not to complain but only look at the bright side. We are having a baby!

I’m not allowed to drive the car anymore as my hormones tend to get the better of me. I nearly punched a guy in the back of the head on Saturday, and nearly took out the umpires of Russell’s netball grand final! It just seems to me that all of a sudden there are so many morons on the road these days, and umpires don’t even know how to umpire properly. It’s driving me mad!!

We were meant to have an ultra sound last week (prescribed by my doc) to make sure everything was going ok and that everything was where it should be. However, with Russell not having worked for 3 months we haven’t got the money to pay for it. Because it is an early ultra sound, you cannot claim it back from Medicare. This is hard because I am so nervous and I want to make sure everything is ok. So, we are just having to trust God that everything is ok and that we will see our little one in week 12. Just under 4 weeks away!!

On Sunday night I found out that a friend I’ve known since I was 10 is due the exact same day as me! She is also due on Nov 17th!! It was an absolute spin out. Oh, and she is one of Kaylee’s older sisters! It will be fun to compare our bellies with each other and to see how each other progress.

I think that whatever Robert and Kaylee have, we will have the opposite of. So, if they have a girl, we’ll have a boy or vice versa.

Russell keeps referring to ‘it’ as a boy. “…he….blah blah blah” or “….his….blah blah blah” I said to him last night, “what if it’s a girl” and he smiled and said he didn’t mind and he doesn’t know why he keeps referring to it as a boy, but that he would be happy either way. I think in his mind he thinks it is a boy because of a few dreams I have had in the past.

I honestly don’t care. I just want this baby. It is so hard to trust God and to not get too excited, but it’s too late. I’m already excited and it consumes most of my thoughts every day…well in between thoughts of being sick anyway!!

Anyway, it is still early days, but I am praying for an absolute miracle. After all that’s what each child is, an absolute miracle.

Add to the sidebar

If you look to the right of your screen, you will see a blob.

This blob is our little baby!

Anyway....it has taken me a while to figure out how to add the jolly thing, so I hope it worked out ok.

It should update itself weekly, so if not, I think I will have to manually do it *groan*...in which case I probably won't be stuffed!!

Anywho....that's our bubs!!

Quote of the day

"The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity."

- Winston Churchill

Memories

My sister is getting married in 7 weeks. And as the time grows closer and closer I start thinking about mum and dad.

I was chatting with dad a couple of weeks ago and he mentioned that he missed the time when all us kids were home. We would play together and keep each other entertained throughout the school holidays. Dad would take over to the oval and we would play cricket. At our birthday parties dad would organise the games…but I’ll never forgive him when at my 5th birthday party, for the treasure hunt, instead of hiding lollies, he hid peanuts. All the kids teased me.

As dad was talking about how he missed having us all home, he said that he is trying to really enjoy the stage of life that he is at now. He has 2 grandchildren on the way, and his 3rd child is getting married. He said that he doesn’t want to dwell on the past, but that he is enjoying life where it is. As much as he misses the past, it is in the past. There is no point living in the past and missing out on the present.

I’m not really sure what the point of this post is. Thinking about my sister has just gotten me thinking I guess. I was thinking about the speech I will have to make at the wedding, and I was remembering my childhood with all my brothers and my sister. It was such an amazing time. We weren’t perfect by any means, but I still think we got along a lot better than some families I know. I miss being able to play ‘barbies’ with my sister. Constantly swapping Ken dolls and boyfriends but then eventually settling down and getting married. I miss closing off the hallway, turning off all the lights, grabbing all our pillows and doonas and playing some game where we had to get from one end to the other. Girls against boys…sigh…I got paired with Kate (obviously) she was weak ;) I don’t think we ever won.
I miss laughing at my brother who would hide under a box and see how long he could stay under there for. This was mums favourite game for the boys to play during school holidays. I seem to remember Robert staying under a box for around 3 hours (his record) without moving or speaking. It was great…we didn’t really have to worry about him! I miss going to the park for a drive with dad (mum wasn’t allowed to come) and he would do donuts or drive over stumps and we didn’t have to wear seatbelts (he was going a max of 10kph)…it was fun bumping around!! I miss going with mum and dad wood chopping in winter and getting to spend the day in the bush running around inventing our own games.

But, I can’t stay back in the past. The truth is…my sister is getting married! My brother is becoming a dad!! I’m becoming a mum!!! It all just feels so surreal. The truth is my sister isn’t going to play ‘barbies’ with me anymore, and my brother isn’t going to sit under a box while his wife is getting dinner ready (at least I hope he doesn’t anyway!). We have ‘grown up’ and life changes. We need to appreciate where we are at this current time.

We need to appreciate everything that comes along with getting married, the good and the bad. We need to appreciate the time we have left together as a couple before children come along. As tough as some circumstances seem, they are part of the package. There will always be stresses at weddings, but there is also much joy! We need to appreciate the fact that God is with us every step of the way in life. He isn’t sitting in the past where the ‘good times’ seem to stay, He isn’t way off in the future where we can’t reach him. He is here with us every single day, past present, and future.

Quote of the day

"Beware the man who slaps you on the back - he's probably trying to make sure you cough up something."

- W.G.P

I don't normally do this...but

We need your help.

Last week our hot water system died. Now, it wasn't just that it stopped working, but it was as though someone removed an entire pipe!! We have no idea what happened, we just came home to a flooding patio!

Since then, we have been living without hot water. We have been living off the graces of family, using their showers when possible, but this isn't able to happen everyday. Russell has braved a cold shower a couple of mornings, and I boil water in a jug and then use that in the sink to wash necessary parts :)

Now, we have no money. Russell hasn't worked for 3 months, hence we have used up our savings. He started work last week but who knows when he will start to get paid!! (It took them 3 months to set him up, who knows how much longer to pay him!!!)

We looked at installing a solar hart hot water system (we currently have an electric system) and financing it interest free over 12 months. So you pay the system off with your bills. It was all looking good and we were about to go ahead with it, but they then decided to inform us that we need a 25% deposit! We have no money!!

So, we are living without hot water. I know how blessed we are to have running, clean, drinkable water, but we also need the hot water running. We are starting to get desperate!

Here is my plea....does anyone out there know how to fix a hot water system?? Would anyone like to donate a hot water system? Do you know someone who out of the goodness of their heart, would like to help out a young couple (with a baby on the way - I am going to use that one for a few months I think!!)...then please pass my email onto them. You can find my email under my profile.

Thanks guys....and as I said before....I don't usually do this, so this has been a large lump of pride to swallow!!

This oven aint broke

Well, I was going to wait another few weeks till I posted this but I can't wait....no patience I tell you!!

We're pregnant again!!

I am currently 7 weeks along and very paranoid.

This was a little surprise actually because it happened only 4 weeks after our miscarriage this year! We sure are 'super sonic sperm' and 'excellent egg', but it really is only by God's grace that this has happened.

We are both so excited and are waiting in expectation of our little one arriving Nov 17th this year.

I have been pretty nauseous and have been trying not to fall asleep at work. The nausea lasts all day, and I have had no reprive at all. But, I don't want to complain about it. I am so happy that I will endure whatever sickness comes...as hard as that is! I just keep reminding myself that other women have had it 10x worse than me, and that it will all be worth it.

So, that is why I haven't been posting much recently. I've had this big news and I haven't been able to share it. I was going to wait until the 12 week mark, but I would rather enjoy myself now and share our excitement, no matter what happens down the track.

It is kinda cool thinking about the possibility that our child will have a cousin roughly 1 month older! How amazing!!

Anywho....now that you all know, you need to start praying!! This has been an answer to prayer and we are eternally grateful!!