it might not be convenient

Talking about "Love is conviction, not convenience", here's one good piece from brother Ken some time ago:

Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 4:59 AM

Subject: Are you choosing to serve or choosing to be a servant?

My brothers, I would like to share this with you as an encouragement and a reminder to serve the Lord always!!

Paul Siaki, a missionary to regions in and around South Africa, asked that question last week during his sermon at IPC.  He had heard God's call and answered the call to go and evangelize in that part of the world.  While he is back in the states for his furlough, he visits churches and to drum up support for his mission work.

So he asked that question.  "What's the difference," I was thinking to myself.  Had I not chosen to serve already?  Then, when he elaborated on his question, it is like a wake-up call (for those of you who remember, it's the same 2x4 that's again hit me over the head #8^).  Here's what Paul showed me:

When I choose to serve, I also choose when to serve, where to serve, what to serve, who to serve with, whom to serve, and how to serve.  You see, I am IN CONTROL.  However, when I choose to be a servant, I give up this control.  I will serve whenever, wherever, whatever, however, whoever, and whomever.  Jesus is now in control when I choose to be a servant.

Rom. 6:18 said "...you became slaves of righteousness."  A slave, unlike us who worked 8 to 5 jobs, does not have his/her own time.  His/her time belongs to the master.  Likewise, Christ has set us free from the power of sin that enslaves us.  Now we are free to choose Christ, to be His servant.

I thought I have made that choice.  Paul's challenge, however, brought to light on how I have fallen short.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer's words on "cheap grace" vs. "costly grace" all of a sudden ringed in my head.  As I thought back, I realized that my service to Christ really hadn't cost me much, if any.  Now I know the reason, it is because I've always chosen to serve.  So, I served when it's convenient for me, I served only what appeals to me, I served only those whom I like, ...etc.

It all comes down to being available for God.  Often times I've made myself not available to God because I've chosen to serve instead of being a servant.  Christ had convicted me through the words of Paul Siaki, one who had chosen to be a servant.  Praise the Lord and the Holy Spirit who continue to guide us and convict us when we have gone astray!!

In Christ,

Ken

if you are going to san juan capistrano

Go down south on Interstate 5, get off at Ortega Highway, turn inland for about 7 and a half miles, you will see Caspers Wilderness Park. Drive in, park your car, enjoy a great hiking with blue skies and chaparral scenery.

On your way back on Ortega Highway, go past the I-5, the first traffic light you'll see is at a street named Del Obispo. Make a hurried left turn there, drive a couple hundred yards down the street, turn right to a Sizzler Restaurant and enjoy a hearty salad bar lunch for only $6.99, if you call the manager by his name and told him you had called him earlier and he agreed to give you and your pals that special price just because you called. 

Two weeks later you receive a letter from some p.o. box in North Hollywood. It's an official looking paper with 4 color pictures in the middle: A driver with a hiking cap who looks like me; the back sight of car with a license plate that looks like mine; a blue Highlander (that looks like mine) right behind the limit line of an intersection, with a red left-turn light on; and the same blue Highlander turning left in the middle of the intersection, with that same red light on. On top of the letter says: NOTICE OF VIOLATION--Automated Red Light Enforcement System.

And that will cost you $366, $423 if you elect to go to the traffic school to avoid the point.

So, like my wife chastised me with glee: what's the hurry, man. Slow it down, brothers, especially when you are in San Juan Capistrano, near the intersection of Ortega Highway and Del Obispo Street (GPS Latitude  33°30'6.73"N, Longitude 117°39'36.68"W)...


San Francisco (the song)

If you're going to San Francisco 
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair 
If you're going to San Francisco 
You're gonna meet some gentle people there 
                         ...

San Juan Capistrano (can somebody sing this for me?)

If you're going to San Juan Capistrano
Be prepared to part some money there
If you're going to San Juan Capistrano
You're gonna meet some hidden camera there