kairos 1 @ berkeley - gracepoint fellowship church

Hi!

I hope everyone's enjoying the great summer sun so far! For us Bay Area folks, it looks like we're back to the normal 68-70 degree day-weather. Hope you so-cal folks are survivin'!

I just came back this Tuesday from the Sierras after a one night stay at the Sierra Lodge for something called Bible Teacher's Training (BTT). There at our Sierra Lodge, Pastor Ed Kang and Kelly Kang helped shape some of the younger staff into the beginnings of Bible teachers. I had a blast as we arrived Sunday night and rose early the next day to start our very first session of Bible training. We were given a prompt and about 30 minutes to prepare a 5-minute talk. After that, we would embed the text from the Bible to substantiate our message. As we received constructive feedback from Pastor Ed, some of us were also blessed by each other's messages. Man! Who knew Yang's talk on monkeys could be so meaningful! When you see him around, ask him about that one. We also got to go to Spaulding Lake where we canoe-ed for about two hours. Rockin' fun!

My first message was on Luke 10 - the story of the Good Samaritan.

Waking up on the wrong side of bed, not having time to do DT, leaving the door late without that cup of coffee. Suddenly, time is all the more precious. You hold onto it tightly like Smeagol and his ring. It is my precious. Thereby, anyone or anything that causes that hiccup in your schedule becomes an obstacle or something you just want to jettison out of your way. How does each one of the characters in this story react when they see this badly beaten man, robbed and deserted on the side of the road? The priest and the Levite both pass by on the other side without a second look or a second thought. Perhaps they were thinking inside - today's a bad day for me, on any other day, maybe I would try to... or I have a whole load of stuff to do today, how could I possibly right now, right here? Or perhaps they were genuinely kind-hearted, but couldn't quite let go of some sort of agenda. I want to help but...

The Samaritan, however, stops... takes a glance at the man, sees someone hurting. So he gives up his time, and what more his oil and wine (considered precious in that day), his donkey, his money for an inn for that man to rest. He doesn't just help this man up, he steps out of any kind of comfort zone, does all this without having been asked. This is exactly how God picks us up - He gives us His time, His heart, and ultimately His Son. God asks us to exemplify that character in our daily lives whether it be to that classmate or co-worker who looked down, or that roommate who needed someone to talk to. But what about that final exam I have tomorrow? Should I?

How are we like the priest or the Levite? Steering clear of any precarious situation. Or has any one of us been like that beaten and broken man who was left to die or fend for himself when someone took that initiative to pick you up from the side of the road? What are some things that are hindering us from going all out and loving the people in our lives? Or recognizing that brokenness in us and personalizing the examples we've seen in our lives so that we may be like that Samaritan? What are some ways we're holding back and passing up on the opportunities to share in God's vision? I think if we can pick up something from the story of the Good Samaritan, we can really focus on others, and our hearts would grow for the hurting and the lost around us.


-Ernie