Inspiration

Last Sunday I led a sermon at Western Oaks about inspiration. You can listen to it here. (Listen carefully though as I talked way too fast!) The whole premise of the sermon, though, was that death brings life.

Think about it:

• Without food, you die. But to eat food, it first must die. Food's death brings you life.
• Many people have saved the physical lives of others, yet still lost theirs. Think of 9/11, any war, or another heroic act.
  
• Or in a completely different way, I once killed a cat (on accident) but its decaying and dead body gave the grass above it a huge burst of life.

Seriously, I think death always brings life. Always. Did you know though that death doesn't have to be physical. You've heard of it and I'm sure you've seen it. People dying to something. Maybe it is someone dying to their pride, schedule, or whatever. People are constantly dying to something. A lot of times these acts inspire others.
Here is something really interesting though. Inspiration means breathing life into something. So when you are inspired by something, you are given new life. On the flip side, the person who inspired you is dying.

Anyhow-listen to the sermon. It goes over all of this and I don't feel like typing it all. (And this will hopefully force you to listen to it).

I want to tell you about the death of a man though. This was a man whom I had never met, but had heard many stories about. This man was Samuel Cowan-the grandfather or one of the students in the youth group I lead.
I attended his funeral this morning. It was such a neat funeral. There were, of course, a lot of tears. It was interesting though because I had never seen so many smiles at a funeral before. Every single person smiled, laughed, and even had a good time. His death really touched a lot of people.
Even though I never met Sam, I know that he was one of those people who was constantly inspiring others. He was constantly dying to himself to give others life. Keep reading for a few examples that I learned this morning.

• Sam went to darn near every sporting event at Pleasant Plains-even when his grandchildren weren't playing in them.
• Sam loved to drive up and down the streets of Plains just to check in on everyone who lived there.
  
• Sam called his children on the phone almost every day. He had nine of them.
• Sam accepted Christ as a grown man while holding one of his daughters in his arms. His children still remember that day.

You see, Sam lived a life not for himself. Sam lived a life for others. Sam died everyday to give others life. Sam inspired.
Even though I didn't know Sam, I was sad for his death. I take joy in the fact, though, that even his physical death inspired others. It inspired others to try to live a life like him. You knew by the tears and the smiles at his funeral today.

Will you live a life of death? Will you live a life of inspiration? Or, will you live a life of living, a life lived only for you?