Woke up with I'd Rather Have Jesus in my head today.
Worshiping the Lord is what He wants. Showing deep love, honor, and obedience to God through your entire way of life. 🙏
✦ The Spirit's Song — Again
August 30 — the Spirit woke Le with His Eye Is on the Sparrow. September 14 — the Spirit woke Le with I'd Rather Have Jesus. Not chosen. Not searched for. Given. The Spirit sings to the pilgrim what the pilgrim needs to hear — and the song is always the day's instruction before the day begins.
The hymn is a series of choices: Jesus over silver and gold. Jesus over riches untold. Jesus over houses and lands. Jesus over men's applause. Jesus over worldwide fame. Every verse is a choosing — and the choosing is worship. Not worship as a song sung in a building. Worship as a life lived in a direction. 🙏
✦ I'd Rather — The Choice That Is Worship
The hymn does not say: I have nothing else, so I'll take Jesus. It says: I'd rather. The silver is available. The gold is available. The houses and lands are available. The applause and fame are available. And the pilgrim says: I'd rather have Jesus.
Taylor from yesterday: trust to God out of choice, not because you have nothing else to trust to. The hymn is Taylor's principle set to music. The choosing when other options exist — that is the good testimony of faith. And that is worship: the daily, deliberate choosing of Jesus over everything this world affords.
Le and Roger — who sold the apartment, sold the car, left the country, and walked patiently to Normandy — have been living this hymn since Caldas. They chose Jesus over houses and lands. Literally. The hymn is not poetry for them. It is biography. 🙏
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
"Et que sert-il à un homme de gagner tout le monde, s'il perd son âme? Que donnerait un homme en échange de son âme?"
Marc 8:36–37 · Louis SegondThe French says que sert-il à un homme de gagner tout le monde, s'il perd son âme? — what does it serve a man to gain the whole world, if he loses his soul? The hymn answers Jesus's question: nothing. The whole world is not worth the exchange. Silver, gold, houses, lands, applause, fame — the entire catalog is not worth one soul. And the soul that says "I'd rather have Jesus" has answered correctly. 🙏
✦ Worship Through Your Entire Way of Life
Le's testimony is the keystone: Worshiping the Lord is what He wants. Showing deep love, honor, and obedience to God through your entire way of life.
Through your entire way of life. Not through a Sunday service. Not through a devotional hour. Through the entire way. The eating and the drinking — 1 Corinthians 10:31. The dishes and the driving — Taylor's day four. The intention behind every action — Taylor's day five. The patience of the walk — Taylor's yesterday. The entire way of life is the worship.
Romans 12:1 — present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. The living sacrifice is not a moment. It is a life. The worship is not a song. It is an entire way of living — every choice, every step, every morning over coffee, every road through France. 🙏
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
"Je vous exhorte donc, frères, par les compassions de Dieu, à offrir vos corps comme un sacrifice vivant, saint, agréable à Dieu, ce qui sera de votre part un culte raisonnable. Ne vous conformez pas au siècle présent, mais soyez transformés par le renouvellement de l'intelligence, afin que vous discerniez quelle est la volonté de Dieu, ce qui est bon, agréable et parfait."
Romains 12:1–2 · Louis Segond✦ Un Culte Raisonnable — A Reasonable Worship
The French says un culte raisonnable — a reasonable worship. Paul calls the living sacrifice reasonable. Not extraordinary. Not heroic. Reasonable. The entire life given to God is not the exceptional act — it is the reasonable response. Given what God has done — the mercies, the compassions, the nail-pierced hand — the offering of the entire life is simply what makes sense.
Le's calling from day one: serve God and take care of Roger, to the best of my ability, all the days of my life. That is the living sacrifice. That is the reasonable worship. That is the entire way of life offered to the One who is fairer, sweeter, and enough. 🙏
"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ."
"Mais ces choses qui étaient pour moi des gains, je les ai regardées comme une perte, à cause de Christ. Et même je regarde toutes choses comme une perte, à cause de l'excellence de la connaissance de Jésus-Christ mon Seigneur, pour lequel j'ai renoncé à tout, et je les regarde comme de la boue, afin de gagner Christ."
Philippiens 3:7–8 · Louis Segond✦ I Count All Things Loss — That I May Gain Christ
Paul's words are the apostle's version of the hymn: I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. The French says j'ai renoncé à tout... afin de gagner Christ — I have renounced everything... in order to gain Christ. The renouncing is not deprivation. It is exchange. Paul traded everything — and gained Christ. The hymn says: I'd rather have Jesus. Paul says: I'd rather gain Christ.
Consuelo's voice: A recompensa de Deus é o próprio Deus, e somente Ele. The reward of God is God Himself, and only He. The hymn, Paul, and Consuelo all say the same: the gain is the Person, not the possessions. The reward is the Giver, not the gift. 🙏
"Worshiping the Lord is what He wants. Showing deep love, honor, and obedience to God through your entire way of life."
Le · Lion-sur-Mer · The living sacrifice · The entire way · I'd rather have JesusI'd Rather Have Jesus
The Spirit's song. Every verse a choosing. Jesus over silver, gold, houses, lands, applause, fame. The choosing when other options exist — that is worship.
The Living Sacrifice
Present your bodies — a living sacrifice. Un culte raisonnable — a reasonable worship. Not the exceptional act. The reasonable response to infinite mercy.
Gain Christ
Paul counted all things loss. Consuelo said the reward is God Himself. The renouncing is not deprivation — it is exchange. The Person, not the possessions.
The Spirit woke Le with a hymn — for the second time. And Le's response was not the hymn but the theology beneath it.
The Spirit's pattern: August 30 — His Eye Is on the Sparrow (assurance of God's watchful care). September 14 — I'd Rather Have Jesus (the choosing of God over everything). The Spirit is teaching Le through songs before the readings begin. The song arrives in the morning. The theology follows at midday. The entry preserves both.
Le's theology — worship through the entire way of life: Worshiping the Lord is what He wants. Showing deep love, honor, and obedience to God through your entire way of life. This is Romans 12:1 in Le's own words. The living sacrifice. The reasonable worship. Not a department of life called "worship" — but the entire way of life offered as worship. Taylor's days of intention and presence converge here.
The hymn as biography: The hymn says: I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands. Le and Roger sold the house. Sold the car. Left the country. The hymn is not aspiration for them. It is testimony. They chose. They walked. They arrived in Normandy — having traded houses and lands for the nail-pierced hand that leads.
Consuelo's voice returns: A recompensa de Deus é o próprio Deus, e somente Ele. The hymn, Paul, and Consuelo form a three-voice chorus: the gain is Christ. The reward is God. The exchange is everything for the One who is everything. And the pilgrim in Lion-sur-Mer, who has exchanged much, knows the math is sound.
The nail-pierced hand: The hymn says: I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand. Not a strong hand. Not a royal hand. A wounded hand. The hand that leads is the hand that was broken for the one it leads. And Le knows what it is to be held by a hand that bears the cost of the holding. 🙏