John 15:13

I was preparing a Shrimp Spread to take with me to our Women's Bible Study tonight when I had a random thought. Let me go back for a minute & give you some background.

Eight years ago, my sister & I took a little vacation to Corpus Christi. It wasn't too far away from home, but she had been going through some really rough times, and I thought it would be fun for just the two of us to get away from everything and take it easy for a few days! My husband kept our two kids (then ages 2 years & 11 months), and my mom kept Sara's daughter (11 months). Even to this day, that was my favorite vacation (although Disney World comes in a very close second!)! We did whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted...We slept late, ate out every meal, went and played Putt-Putt at 10:00 one night, shopped in all the little shops (that we never went in growing up. We had family down in Corpus, so that was like our second home. We didn't ever do much sight-seeing). Basically, all the things that mother's with little children don't get to do on a regular basis. Our last evening there, we went out to eat with our cousin Patty & my very special friend, Buck. Patty ordered shrimp, and even though she was full, she made herself finish off her plate. That's nothing unusual in our family, but it was what she said that stuck out at me. She said, "I made a promise to myself. Every time I order shrimp, I must finish every last one. If these shrimp layed down their lives for me, the least I can do is to eat them." Ha-ha! :) Gotta love the shrimp!

Now fast forward 8 years, onto my thought as I was in the kitchen making the Shrimp Spread. I thought, "Isn't it crazy that some people take something so silly as eating every last shrimp on their plate so seriously, ensuring that the shrimp's death wasn't in vain. And yet, do we as Christians take Christ's laying His life down for us just as seriously?"

Of course the shrimp didn't choose to lay their lives down for you...but Christ did. Do we live our lives in such a way that His death isn't in vain?

Just a thought.

"There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." John 15:13