Sacrifice

The scriptures are clear that the world will come to know Jesus Christ through the love/service that Christians show to each other. We’ve got the concept down. I thought I might illustrate it with some experiences from my life.

Rudolph Kocurek and I were good friends, God rest his soul. He taught me a lot about woodworking. We developed a partnership where we would go out onto ranchland, winch the mesquite logs onto his trailer, go to the sawmill in Kingsville, Texas and then divide the boards. One day my Dad was visiting from Houston and watched Rudolph and I as we divided the boards. I would pick out the best boards and tell Rudolph… you take this one. He would say… no you take it. This happened board after board. Finally Dad out of frustration said… just divide them up… you’re not going to cheat each other. No we weren’t because our relationship was a lot more valuable than boards.

Gus, David and I have been Elders for a number of years. We were having problems with a member and two of us wanted to do one thing and one of us wanted to do another. I told the other two to go ahead with what they wanted to do but I couldn’t be part of it. The other two said if you can’t go along with it then we won’t do it… our relationship is too important. The member ended up moving off. I’ll never forget the respect that David and Gus had for my conscience.

In 1998, Pancho Hubert and I decided to partner up and start a new Veterinary clinic. A lot of people warned us about taking on a partner. I’ve had a lot of good friends and Pancho Hubert is as good a friend as I’ve ever had. We take care of each other. He can borrow anything I have and I can borrow anything he has. If he’s short on cash I’ll give him whatever I’ve got and he’ll do the same for me. He went to my dad’s funeral and I went to his dad’s funeral. We can laugh and poke fun at each other and we love each other for it. We never take advantage of each other but try to treat the other better than we treat ourselves. We have built an incredible business because just as water flows downhill so does the power of good leadership.

I’ve learned this, when you have complete trust in a relationship that frees you up to focus all your efforts in a positive direction and great things can be achieved.

I’ve also learned that things are not as important as people. Sacrifice yourselves and your things so you can build great relationships with people and God can be glorified.