The LeSage Family photo...

I am sorry, but I just had to share this photo with you all. I don't want to get so wrapped up in other things I write about that I fail to share with you my love of my family.
I have noticed a problem that I must get a better handle on and it may be one some of you can relate to.
The challanges of being in ministry are similar to my prior profession as a basketball coach. Coach Joe Pichardo of Bishop Kenny told me one day that it was important that I marry a woman who was capable of being a "coaches wife." As a 25-year-old that didn't really mean a bunch to me at the time. A coaches wife would have to accept that her husband who have late nights watching game film, travel to scout upcoming teams, staying after games to talk to coaches, parents, players and know that their husband might also be a little more stressed out on occasion.
Though I am not officially a "minister," my wife also has similar challenges to the basketball coaches' wife. She has to deal with having to share her holidays with the church and me taking phone calls from people who I feel might need to talk to me. She has to deal with countless people knowing who she is though she has never seen or met them. She has to deal with waking up Sunday morning and getting three kids under 7-years-old ready for church by herself. And of course because my ministry happens when people are off of work, that means I am gone when she is off work and home with the kids.
I am so thankful that she supports what I do while keeping me accountable to my God-given responsibility to her and my kids. Too many times, I take for granted that she should accept whatever I happen to be doing because "it's ministry." Yes, too often I overlook the ministry that I have to lead that is positioned right under my own roof. (Thank you my love for being the helper God has called you to be.)

How about you? Sacrifice diner with family regularly because of work? Because of sports? Because the neighbor has a '57 Chevy he needs rebuilt?

Sacrifice with a price...

Today, I had the pleasure of visiting with a parent who has two children involved with sports here at CC. Regrettably the visit wasn't under the most ideal circumstances; you see this visit happened in the waiting room at Baptist Hospital downtown. Her son was going in for surgery to repair her son's jaw that had been broken in three places. He had metal plates put in under the skin and will soon have his jaw wired shut for 6 weeks. He didn't get in a car accident or fall off his skateboard. No, you see he was beaten up by several guys because he was trying to protect his friend from being beaten up.
What a situation to be in huh? This young man took a far worse beating then than the guy he was trying to protect. What would you do?

Psalm 82:3-4 says this:
³“Give justice to the poor and the orphan;
uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
⁴ Rescue the poor and helpless;
deliver them from the grasp of evil people."

Ultimately, this can be learning tool for a lot of people. Maybe the one who was spared the beating will learn about love and sacrificing for someone else. For those who did the kicking and punching, they might also see what sacrificing for another looks like. The funny thing is, the one laying in a hospital bed today likely stepped in because of his faith. A faith that taught him about another man who stepped in to take a beating for the actions of others. The metal that man received did not go into his jaw however but into his hands and feet.