Hilda Mason served as an active Washington D.C. city council member into her 80's. She didn't serve her city alone. Her husband, Charlie Mason, assisted her in her work for more than twenty years. How did he find the time? He went the second mile and gave up his law practice to be her assistant.

In the aftermath of the terrorist bombings of the World Trade Center in New York, NY and on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., President Bush declared Friday, September 14, 2001, as a National Day of Prayer and Remembrances. Americans gathered in their houses of worship- the President attended a service at the Washington National Cathedral.

"We see our national character in rescuers working past exhaustion; in long lines of blood donors; in thousands of citizens who have asked to work and serve in any way possible." Bush said.

"And we have seen our national character in eloquent acts of sacrifice. Inside the World Trade Center, one man who could have saved himself stayed until the end at the side of his quadriplegic friend. A beloved priest died giving the last rites to a firefighter. Two office workers, finding a disabled stranger, carried her down sixty-eight floors to safety."

—http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010914-2.html Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

Matthew 7:12 NIV "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

When Karen Watson felt God's call to go to Iraq, we responded by resigning her job, selling her car, house, and other possessions. When she left, everything she owned was contained in a duffle bag. Today, her duffle bag has become a reminder of the work she did in telling people in Iraq about Jesus Christ.

Watson's family shared her story with the President of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, Jerry Rankin at her funeral. Rankin then took Watson's message of sacrifice to a Missions Conference in New Orleans. He encouraged students, faculty, and staff at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary to consider missions not out of obligation to fulfill the Great Commission, but because they are compelled by the Love of Jesus.

Rankin said, "Media and culture, they just don't get it. Why would anyone go to a place that their lives would be at risk?" He added, "We have all succumbed to a culture and a philosophy where it is all about us, it's all about our comfort, all about our security, all about our future in this life. They never understand that there is something worth giving your life to. There is a purpose that's worth dying for. But the world doesn't understand that." Rankin says no one becomes obedient to the point of giving their life through a sense of obligation because Jesus told them to go. He says, "No, you are driven by a passion in your heart for a lost world."

In addition to her duffle bag, Watson left a letter with her pastor that was to be opened only upon her death. When the letter was opened after she and three other workers were murdered in Iraq, Watson made it clear she had counted the cost of going. In handwritten capital letters she wrote, "THERE ARE NO REGRETS."

—www.baptistpress.org, Karen Watson's duffel bag a symbol of sacrifice, students told,

2 Cor. 5:14 (NIV) “For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.”

While on vacation in Florida, Gareth Griffith, decided to try sky diving. He was jumping in tandem with Michael Costello, an experienced instructor.

The main chute failed to open. No big deal, they had a back up chute. The backup failed too. The two men went into a violent spin as they plummeted to their destiny. The instructor corrected the spin and regained control of the fall. Griffith was on bottom and the instructor was on top.

As they neared the ground, the instructor, folded his arms and legs, causing the pair to rotate, in doing so, the instructor hit the ground first, cushioning his student's blow.

Griffith survived. Costello wasn't so lucky—he sacrificed his own life so that Griffith could live

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."

For some people, self-sacrifice to serve others is a way of life. Take Dr. Paul Farmer for instance. He works about two months a year in Boston, MA where he heads the Infectious Disease program at Harvard Medical School and treats patients at Brigham & Women's Hospital, but the rest of the year he spends most of his time in Haiti, a poverty ridden country with no affordable health care, treating the "disposable people" of the world.

Farmer's sacrifice has caught the attentions of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder who is working on a book about Farmer. Kidder said, "It's not as though what he's doing is somehow inhuman or superhuman. It's intensely human. When you hang out with Paul you begin to think that altruism is normal, and the other stuff we tend to think of as part of human nature-greed, selfishness, mendaciousness-that those are the things that are abnormal. It's just another way of seeing the world tilt around."

James 2:15-16 NIV "Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. [16] If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?"

A chance meeting at a retreat gave a Detroit woman something she had sought for years, a new kidney. 49 year-old Lorraine Lamb had been on dialysis for six years. Although all three of her children had been tested for compatibility for donating, none of them had been able to help their mother. Lamb had resigned herself to a life on dialysis, which cleaned her blood but left her exhausted and demoralized.

Glenda McCloskey came to the retreat to meet her sister, but her trip changed when she happened to meet Lamb and hear her story. McCloskey said, "I was just amazed at how different her life would be if she had a kidney, so I thought, 'I'll give her one.' It seemed a small thing to make a big difference in someone's life."

Tests confirmed that McCloskey was a match, so she went through with the procedure to give a kidney to Lamb. Afterwards Lamb said, "It was kind and wonderful. What else would a Christian do, but I didn't think she understood the depths of what she was offering."

McCloskey's family was not concerned about her decision to help another. McCloskey said, that her family was used to her little adventures. Afterwards, McCloskey added, "This has all been very rewarding. There's no better feeling than knowing you can help someone else. That's what life's about."

—http://www.detnews.com (The Detroit News), Women Meet at Christian retreat, Agree on kidney donation, September 22, 2004. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

John 15:13 (NIV) "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

The latest fad for runners is known as “Ultrarunning” which features such extreme running events as a 100 mile marathon. The sport takes such a degree of commitment that some participants have permanently removed their toenails in order to eliminate one of the potential sources of runners’ discomfort. A sports podiatrist told the New York Times that many “ultras” consider their toenails, “useless appendages, remnants of claws from evolutionary times.” Not all ultrarunners agree. Another runner commented, “You know any sport has gone off the rails when you have to remove body parts to do it.”

--One Ultrarunning Problem, Solved For Good; http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/fashion/22FITNESS.html ; October 21, 2009, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

While this sounds a bit extreme to me, it does remind me that one dedicated to win a race will remove any encumbrance.

Hebrews 12:1 GNB As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses around us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us.

During the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, England and Germany were playing soccer while their fans were cheering them on. What a difference 65 years can make. Back in 1944 it was a different picture between these two countries. These two countries were at war with each other in WW II. If it wasn’t for the sacrifice of many, freedom would not have won. Freedom has a price.

Allow me to read a portion of Eisenhower’s letter to his troops, he wrote, “Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many month. … In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. … I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory! Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”

-- http://www.3ad.com/history/ww11/feature.pages/d.day.letters.htm Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Bob Johnson

Matthew 16:24 (NIV) “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

The events surrounding 9/11 contain numerous stories of courage and determination. Lt. Heather Penney was an F-16 pilot on that day. Her National Guard commander ordered her to take off from Andrews Air Force Base and destroy hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 before it could crash into the Capitol building. That should have been a simple enough task except for the heart rendering action of shooting down a passenger airliner. There was one other problem though. Time was so short; the pilots took off without missiles. Their orders were to ram the aircraft. Her order was to give her life to save the lives of hundreds of her fellow citizens in Washington, DC.

--The Week, September 23, 2011, p. 10 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

Jesus said this was the greatest love, to lay one’s life down for a friend. Penney was on her way to lay her life down for strangers. The heroic passengers on Flight 93 took control of the airliner from the hijackers and it crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside saving Penney from having to carry out that order.

John 15:13 (HCSB) No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.

As an unexpected thunderstorm was rolling in, balloon pilot Edward Ristaino was thinking of the safety of his five passengers. Fortunately the passengers were on a skydiving trip and had parachutes. They were prepared to exit the balloon when Ristaino guided them over an open and empty field. "You need to get out now!"

The five passengers jumped just before storm sucked the balloon upward into the clouds and out of sight. Searchers found Ristaino's in the wreckage of his balloon three days later. Dennis Valdez, one of the jumpers said he felt helpless as he watched the outline of Ristaino's balloon fade into a storm cloud. "He put us before he put his own safety," Valdez said.

--USA Today, March 20, 2012 p. 2A Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

Ed Ristaino died that the five could live. On a far grander scale that is what Jesus did for me, and you. He laid down his life that I could live forever.

John 15:13 (ESV) Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Sgt. Dennis Weichel was herding a group of Afghan children off the road out of the way of a military convoy when one boy darted back into the road. Weichel, a Rhode Island National Guardsman, pushed the boy out of the way before the vehicle struck him. Instead, it hit Sgt. Weichel who died from his injuries. Weichel gave his life that one boy might live.

I don’t know what kind of recognition is present in the boy’s Afghan family concerning the supreme sacrifice. I do know that we recognize that Jesus gave his life that we might live. We are cognizant of His sacrifice every time we pray or worship.

John 15:13 (ESV) Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.

The 2012 movie, The Act of Valor, stars a group of active duty Navy SEALS and is inspired by true events. In one of the scenes, the SEALS are in hot pursuit of suicidal terrorists on a mission to kill thousands of Americans. The soldiers are carrying the heavy weight of their commitments to their country, their team, and their families awaiting them back home.

As they race to stop the terrorist’s plot, they encounter heart-pounding resistance. Fully automatic gunfire erupts, combatants pop up from every direction, and the team valiantly pushes through in order to stop them. As the group cautiously enters a room, an enemy is hiding above. He is shown holding a grenade. He slowly pulls the pin out and throws the grenade into the center of the SEALS. With nowhere to hide and mere seconds to react, almost all of the soldiers instinctively dive to the nearest wall and curl up into a fetal position. One of the soldiers, a brave husband and father of little children, makes an immediate decision and jumps on top of the grenade to prevent it from harming his fellow soldiers as well. He sacrifices his own life for the sake of others.—Jim L. Wilson and Brent Young

Act of Valor Grenade Scene, posted by VisionOf6, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBr9I-FkGq8 Or at 1 hour 31 minutes into the movie.

The decision to put someone before ourselves in the simplest ways alone can be challenging enough. But the Bible challenges us to even be willing to give up our own life for the sake of others. Let us pray that God can continue molding us to the point that we are willing to give up any amount of our lives in order to save others.

John 15:13 (HCSB) “No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.”

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the three compatriots – Potter, Ron Weasely, and Hermione Granger – traverse through a series of puzzles to prevent the theft of the Philosopher's Stone, desired by the Lord Voldemort to restore his power. The final challenge involves a game of Wizard's Chess. Involving life-sized pieces with the friends playing roles on the board, the contest progresses in a flurry of destruction as the pieces come to life to destroy their opponents in a growing pile of rubble. Finally, Ron notices an opening. If he positions himself correctly, the queen will be forced to attack him. This will allow Harry to place the king in checkmate. Though his friends protest, Ron chooses to sacrifice himself to protect those he holds dear. He calls out his move on the board. The queen rotates to meet him. As she draws near, she lifts her sword into the air and drives it into Ron's horse. He falls to the ground. .—Jim L. Wilson and Aaron Huntley

– Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, directed by Chris Columbus (2001, Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2007), 1:58:00-2:05:22.

Sacrifice involves knowing the cost but choosing to pay it for those one cares about.

John 15:13 (NASB): "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."

In 2011, Cameron Lyle, a shot-putter at the University of New Hampshire, added his DNA to the federal bone marrow registry. Just as he was preparing to compete at the American East Championships in 2013, he got word that his DNA matched that of a 28 year-old leukemia sufferer.

“I would love to give him a shot,” said Lyle as he changed his schedule to help save the life of a man he will likely never meet. --Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

John 15:13 (ESV) Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

A Welsh pastor plans to carry a 12-foot wooden cross across Wales in four weeks. Clive Cornish has set a goal of completed the walk within 4 weeks. Cornish plans to use the walk to pray for his home country and share his faith with the people he meets along the way. He did the same thing ten years ago, and experienced a lot of pain and discomfort. He is already finding the same thing to be true on this trek, but said the visible difficulty of the walk actually leads people to stop and talk with him. He shares his faith, passes out tracts, and talks about Jesus. Cornish said a man pulled up to him in a car, and rolled down the window. The man asked if Cornish had been walking in a nearby town the day before. When Cornish said that he had, the man I the car asked him why. Cornish said, “To remind you Jesus loves you” he said the man beeped his horn enthusiastically and drove away.—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Evangelist to walk 500 miles with 12-foot cross, by Susie Turner, http://www.christiantoday.com/article/evangelist.to.walk.500.miles.with.12.foot.cross/33902.htm?utm_source=
feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Delicious/christianheadlines/positiveheadlines+
(Christian+Headlines+-+Positive+Headlines), Accessed September 9, 2013.

Luke 9:23 (NASB) (23) And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Video footage taken by a cell phone shows an unidentified man enter a burning house and rescuing a man who was trapped inside. He calmly entered the burning structure, and a few minutes later he walked out carrying another man over his shoulder. A short time before, a woman had called authorities and said her father was trapped inside the home. Authorities say the man was a hero for risking his life to save another. Although he was taken to a nearby hospital to be checked, the man refused to be identified and was able to slip away before anyone got his name.—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Man Walks Into Burning House and Rescues Stranger, http://abcnews.go.com/US/california-man-walks-burning-house-rescues-stranger/story?id=26310100, Accessed October 19, 2014.

John 15:13 (HCSB) No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.

Middle school student Makenna Finnegan was running to set a new personal best time, when she stopped to help a struggling runner. Finnegan passed the other runner and noticed that she was holding her stomach and struggling to keep moving. Finnegan asked what was wrong and the girl said she had a bad cramp in her stomach. The other girl was about to stop, so Finnegan took her hand and the two kept running together. The girls finished the race, but were disqualified because holding hands is considered blocking in cross country. Finnegan said she stopped because she empathized with the girl and said she would gladly stop again, even if she would be disqualified. Finnegan’s coach he was proud to have her on his team. An observer, who didn’t know either of the girls said, “It was just really good sportsmanship. It was like the best finish of the day even though it didn’t count.”—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Middle school runner forfeits race to help a stranger, By Courtney Day,
http://www.wcnc.com/story/sports/highschool/2015/09/29/middle-school-runner-forfeits-race-help-stranger/73032988/, Accessed September 29, 2015.

Romans 12:3 (HCSB) For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.

Twenty-Seven year old Aron Ralston, decided to go hiking in the Bluejohn Canyon in Utah in May of 2003. He was an experienced outdoorsman taking a 13 mile, eight-hour hike. During his hike, he made his way through a narrow part of the sandstone slot. He dislodged an 800-pound chock stone trapping his arm with the drop of the rock. His arm was trapped by the rock for five days, and his food and water rations were getting low. Due to his hiking experience, he knew his chances of surviving were slim if he did not make a move toward resolving the situation.

Aron Ralston decided the only way to set himself free was to amputate his own right hand. So he broke both his radius and ulna and then began to cut the flesh and tendons with the only thing he had access to a multi-tool consisting of a knife, pliers, screwdriver, and a toothpick. Ralston sacrificed his right hand to keep himself from dying with his arm lodged in the boulder. Ralston knew that separating himself from his right hand would result in his best chance for life but would take strength to sacrifice.

Rex Tanner, a ten-year search and rescue veteran and commander of Grand County Search and Rescue said, “To realize that you're going to have to make a large sacrifice to survive, and acting on it—I have to hand it to him. I mean, there are a lot of people that would not have been as strong-minded to be able to pull that off.”

Sometimes people have to make hard choices to survive. –Jim L. Wilson and Kevin C. Hall

1 John 2:15–16 (HCSB) “Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

God's Not Dead is a Christian film about faith and the limits one young man will go to defend his belief in God. Josh Wheaton, a freshman college student, enrolls in a philosophy class taught by professor Dr. Radisson, who demands that all his students must sign a declaration that "God is dead" to get a passing grade. Josh refuses. He and the professor strike a bargain: Josh must defend his position that “God is alive” in a series of debates with him. If he loses, he flunks. When Josh accepts the challenge, his faith, his relationships and even his future were jeopardized. Perhaps the most powerful and pervasive message of the movie is that any person who calls himself or herself a Christian must be willing to sacrifice everything for Christ. —Jim L. Wilson & Sally Carter

Mark 8:38 (HCSB)“For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame, 45, made the extreme sacrifice when he gave his life that another might live. Radouane Lakdim, 26, a Moroccan-born French national went on a terror spree in the French city of Trèbes. Lakdim carjacked a car, killing one person in the process, and wounding another. He then tried to run down four National Police officers who were jogging in Carcassonne. He also took shots at them, wounding one who will survive. He attacked a grocery store where he took several women hostage. Lt. Col Beltrame offered to exchange himself for one of the hostages. While making that exchange Lakdim fatally shot Beltrame in the neck.

French authorities are hailing Lt. Col Beltrame as a hero. Selfless events of service and bravery punctuate his life. This is the ultimate sacrifice. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

It was dark and the borough of Queens, NY was beginning to wake at 5:30 in the morning. Suddenly, a mugger holding a knife jumped out and began to attack a woman. Close by, asleep on the sidewalk, Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax saw the attack. Without a thought for his personal safety, the homeless man ran to the woman’s aid. The mugger turned his attention towards Hugo and began to stab him repeatedly in the chest. As the woman ran free, Hugo dropped to ground and lost consciousness. More than twenty-five people walked past Hugo who was lying motionless in a pool of his own blood. Some passersby stopped to stare or gawk before moving on. One came out of a nearby building and took a cell phone video and another shook Hugo’s body before walking off. Not a single person called 911. Almost two hours after Hugo had been stabbed; firefighters discovered his body after responding to a call of a “non-life-threatening injury.” But by then it was too late. Hugo had died.

Many people view the homeless as a nuisance to the city. Some even think they are less than human. But one homeless man, Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, willingly gave up his life to save a woman he had never met. –Jim L. Wilson & Ryan B

John 15:13 (CSB) “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.”

The plane that dropped 15 smokejumpers into one of the worst firefighting tragedies in U.S. history played a role in the memorial 70 years later. The C-47, now known as Miss Montana, dropped 13 wreaths, one for each firefighter killed in the fire that cause the Forest Service to rethink its fire training safety and research. In 1949, the plane dropped 15 firefighters into Mann gulch to fight a small lightning caused fire. The wind picked up shortly after the men landed, and fire cut off their escape route, killing all but two of the men. Former smokejumper Harold Hoem said, “It’s pretty moving. Especially when you’re up on the ridge looking down where the fire was and thinking how fast things happened.”—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

John 15:3 (CSB) “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”

Six-year-old Bridger Walker of Cheyenne, Wyoming, his sister, and a friend went into the friend’s backyard to play. The friend explained there was one “nice” dog and a “mean” dog in the yard. The “mean” dog ran at the children. According to Bridger’s account “I stepped to the side, in front of my sister so that the dog wouldn’t get her,” Bridger said. “I kept moving, so it couldn’t get past.”

The dog bit him several times in the face, and Bridger had to undergo surgery and receive about 90 stitches. While in the hospital Bridger’s dad asked him, “Why did you do that? The six-year-old responded, “If someone had to die, I thought it should be me.”

https://au.news.yahoo.com/new-details-how-bridger-walker-saved-his-sister-dog-attack-100909055.html

Bridger’s parents said that he has absolutely adored his little sister since she was born. They are almost inseparable. He meets the New Testament qualifications for both love and friendship. — Jim Wilson and Rodger Russell