On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a little life-saving station. The building was primitive, and there was just one boat, but the members of the life-saving station were committed and kept a constant watch over the sea. When a ship went down, they unselfishly went out day or night to save the lost. Because so many lives were saved by that station, it became famous. Consequently, many people wanted to be associated with the station to give their time, talent, and money to support its important work. New boats were bought, new crews were recruited, a formal training session was offered. As the membership in the life-saving station grew, some of the members became unhappy that the building was so primitive and that the equipment was so outdated. They wanted a better place to welcome the survivors pulled from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged and newly decorated building.

Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members. They met regularly and when they did, it was apparent how they loved one another. They greeted each other, hugged each other, and shared with one another the events that had been going on in their lives. But fewer members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions; so they hired lifeboat crews to do this for them. About this time, a large ship was wrecked off of the coast, and the hired crews brought into the life-saving station boatloads of cold, wet, dirty, sick, and half-drowned people. Some of them had brown skin, some had white skin, and some had yellow skin. Some could speak English well, and some could hardly speak it at all. Some were first-class cabin passengers of the ship, and some were the deck hands. The beautiful meeting place became a place of chaos. The plush carpets got dirty. Some of the exquisite furniture got scratched. So the property committee immediately had a shower built outside the house where the victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.
At the next meeting there was rift in the membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's life-saving activities, for they were unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal fellowship of the members. Other members insisted that life-saving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of all those various kinds of people who would be shipwrecked, they could begin their own life-saving station down the coast. And do you know what? That is what they did.

As the years passed, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a place to meet regularly for fellowship, for committee meetings, and for special training sessions about their mission, but few went out to the drowning people. The drowning people were no longer welcomed in that new life-saving station. So another life-saving station was founded further down the coast. History continued to repeat itself. And if you visit that seacoast today, you will find a number of adequate meeting places with ample parking and plush carpeting. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.

At our church campus we have a beautiful view of the city and bay with an ol' rugged cross on it, which helps keep the proper perspective, especially while praying for the people of our city from atop the hill, with the cross in the foreground. I do love this so much.
 
As I was looking at it today and thinking of our name, "Calvary", I was reminded that "Calvary" is the latin of "Golgotha" which is Greek and means, "the place of the skull". This name is in reference to the hill that Jesus was crucified on which had the appearance of a skull in the side of the hill (see pic below). It is rather fitting that God chose this spot for His Son to be crucified (foreshadowed in Genesis 22 with Abraham & Isaac) for the sins of the world, since it was at the cross that the head of the serpent was crushed (Genesis 3:15) as sin & death were defeated. What the enemy meant for death, God meant for life. What the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good.

So our church, "Calvary", sits atop a hill, with a cross at the top for the world to see. How very fitting this is. How beautiful the Gospel of our Lord truly is. How great our sins, but how much greater our Savior.

You can see the law of supply and demand playing out in times like this, and it might be surprising, or expected, to see how the value of commodities shifts. Surprisingly toilet paper has become a highly valued commodity, and expectedly things like food (staples), water, and security have shown themselves to be the solid needs that remain when much of the chaff has been blown away. In the same way the concrete needs of the soul have become evident. As much as we've been doing our best to make good use of this "shelter-in-place" time, and likely been binging on too much entertainment, the uncertainty of everything taking place is gnawing away at us like termites. And like termites, the damage done may not be seen for a long time, and when it is, it is devastating because it has eaten away at the very foundation - Matthew 7:24-29 comes to mind.

As the stock market overall has tumbled a bit, some have done better than others. We've seen companies like Costco, GOJO (maker of Purell hand sanitizer), and ZOOM do well, and be poised for significant growth as things get "back to normal" whenever that might be. If there was a ticker for peace, I think it'd be 'PEAC', and its value would be skyrocketing. Everyone wants to have an internal peace for their soul. This is often less evident, or not felt as much during times of relative peace and ease, and therefore its value can be somewhat lost on us. However, in times of 'war' or 'instability' like we are in now, the value of peace is one of the most glaring needs and desires we have. Do you have peace right now? How secure is your peace? If things continue to escalate and drag out, will your peace hold? There is a peace that God gives that holds through the fiercest storms life, and even death, can bring.

Yes there is a peace God gives that "surpasses understanding" (Philippians 4:7) that I want to help you understand, lol, or at least show you. Before we get peace, we must first meet grace; the grace of God. As sinners, we are naturally at war with God (Romans 8:7), and we cannot just get peace with God because we need it or want it. A peace-treaty must be put in place, and it must be executed by the stronger side (guess which side that is). The good news, in fact the great news is that a treaty has been signed - in blood - at the cross! When Jesus Christ died on the cross, it's as if he signed a peace treaty between a Holy God -and- sinful people. At the cross all the wrath due for the sin of the world was placed upon Jesus, so that we can be made right with God (2 Corinthians 5:21). At the cross the amazing grace of God was displayed and offered to all who would receive it (John 1:12). You cannot receive the peace of God without first receiving this Grace of God, and oh how sweet His grace is!

I don't know what a perfect day looks like for you, but a perfect day for me would be a sunny day in the mountains with the family, hiking alongside a flowing river, hopping from rock to rock with my boys on our way to a summit. That's why I love the verse in Psalm 46:4-5 about a river that, "makes glad the city of God" which makes me think of the imagery that must've been in the mind of Horatio Spafford when he wrote the great hymn, "It is well with My Soul". The first stanza says, "When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know It is well, it is well, with my soul." If or when you know the situation that caused Horatio to write this song, you will know that those "sea billows" were significant, so how much more significant that peace must have been!

I want to tie all this in together by anchoring us in the promises of peace as given in the Word of God. Meditate on these:

"I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
    With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken."
-Psalm 16:8

3 "You will keep in perfect peace
    those whose minds are steadfast,
    because they trust in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
    for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal."
-Isaiah 26:3-4

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
-John 16:33

There are many, many more (395 more), but take these a couple times a day and we'll check back tomorrow.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jason

PS - HERE is our latest message on 7 Pillars of Peace found in Romans 8:1-39 (did you memorize it yet!?)

No. God did not allow the Coronavirus (COVID-19) because of you.

However, God did allow, and is allowing the Coronavirus to continue under His sovereign rule (Psalm 115:3). He is therefore also able to, "work [all things] for the good of those who love him" (Romans 8:28) because ultimately He is still in control. This is a mystery. How God is able to do this will only be revealed when we are in resurrected glory with Him. This world is fallen, and like a hard-drive with a virus, everything has been corrupted. The Bible says that, "all of creation groans" (Romans 8:22-24) because of this - and we are feeling that groaning now in many ways. I do not want to minimize the fallout that is occurring due to the virus not only with health issues, but the economic domino effect.

In the midst of feeling it, I have had the thought several times, and also heard others remark that they, "know God didn't allow the Coronavirus because of them, but..." and then go on to say how because of it, God is working something in their life. For me, it's been a gracious reminder of the Heavenly things, Gods calling upon my life, and that this life is a vapor - which I suppose is standard fare for calamitous events in our life. C.S. Lewis aptly remarked that God, "shouts to us in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." We often get lulled to sleep in times of relative ease and abundance (or should I say lol'd for meme's sake), and it's just hard to stay as focused and determined in such times (though I do try to make a concerted effort to be thankful in such times!)

May this be a merciful wake-up call to us all. For those who do not know God, that they would put their trust in Jesus while He is near and while there is still time! (Romans 10:9-13, Isaiah 55:6-7). For those who know the LORD, may we be serious about our Fathers business (Luke 2:49), not in a stoic and way, but in a seriously glad way with an eagerness that everyone would know the goodness of God that we know.

Use this time and all that God is doing through it wisely - He is doing much. Rejoice!

For Such a Time as THIS,
Pastor Jason

^{_{Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash}}

One of the many great things about journaling is that you can look back at past records with greater clarity because, well, you're looking into the past. When you write a journal entry it likely has a lot of questions, assumptions, hopes, etc of what's to come - i.e; 'How will this decision turn out?', or, 'will we get that place?', or, 'where will I be in a year from now?' At the time, we don't know, but we know that God knows - and that's exciting.

I was recently going through some journal entries I had been writing during a very tumultuous time in my life, wondering how things would pan out, and where I'd be a year from then. It was beautiful to see the faithfulness of God with this perspective. To think, He already knew where I'd be in that next year! So why would I trust my own reasoning or probabilities instead of His? I can't see into the future, but He sees the future as clear as we see the past (actually, He sees everything much clearer than we can see no matter which direction we're looking).

They say hindsight is 20/20, and that's debatable itself because even when we look back on what happened, we might get the details wrong, or still not grasp all the perspectives involved. But I love to think of this phrase when thinking of my future - that my future is already hindsight to God, and if hindsight is 20/20, then I ought to trust Him for it, and be sure that I'm following His lead.

This verse carried me during a pivotal time, and I commend it to you now - not only for pivotal times in your life, but to hold close and use as a decision-making-grid all the time:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths."
-Proverbs 3:5-6

^{*Hint - read the whole chapter!}

For such a time as this,
Pastor Jason

_{Photo by Alex Radelich on Unsplash}

Too soon? Yeah, a bit, but...

We have now lived and served in the Bay Area for 15+yrs, and one phrase that I've heard (and said) too often, is that, 'the Bay Area is hard soil', or that, 'it's tough to do church in the Bay Area,' and while I know that's the current situation, I'm getting tired of hearing that.

I'm glad that term has been vexing me lately, because I believe that God is going to change that reality soon. It is not up to us to change this situation - it is only a sovereign work of the Lord - and I believe that this is on the cusp, but somehow our prayers, labor, and faithfulness can move the arm of the Lord - this is a great mystery! I have recently been discerning great unity in churches across the Bay. I have also been seeing this, though I put the discernment fact first because, "we walk by faith, and not by sight", yet the fruition will follow if it's true. The momentum of unity has been beautiful to see. The Saturday evening texts between various Pastors encouraging them, letting them know they're being prayed for as they finalize their sermon prep for Sunday morning. The increasing fellowship, coffee meet-ups, lunches, hikes, etc. I hope I'm not giving away any game-plans here, but it's been so cool, and as I said, the momentum builds.

Not only am I seeing the internal unity of the church, but the exterior need for the Gospel. It's a blessing to be able to be a bi-vocational Pastor (which means I also work a full-time job) in the Bay Area. It's no exaggeration to say that I've been privileged to work with some of the smartest people on the planet, and on some of the coolest things taking place in technology. It's also allowed insight into that culture, which can be a work-heavy, never-shutting-down-the-brain, grind/hustle, more, more, better, better, endless pursuit of...what? A new industry-changing product? A world-changing product? As cool as those phrases are (and that is what's happening in so many places of the Bay Area), it's all still temporary, right? Yep, and there is an ever-present nihilistic fog (not Karl) lingering to it that can't be fully drowned out by any amount of hedonistic pursuits. It can only be abolished in knowing the eternal God who made you, and being reconciled to Him through the death and resurrection of Christ. An eternal void is only satisfied by an eternal God. So the need is everywhere, as it always has been. I think the Bay Area/Silicon Valley culture has just done a, 'real good job' at drowning out the voice of God, somehow.

Lastly, there is also this little verse from Acts 18 that the Lord gave me before taking over as Lead Pastor @ Calvary, and it's this; "One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God." (Acts 18:9-11). I believe that the Lord has many people in this city...or these... (Belmont, San Mateo, Burlingame, San Carlos, Redwood City, Burlingame, Milbrae, Foster City, etc.) and this will come to fruition through the faithful preaching and teaching of God's word, making disciples, not being fearful of man...and hopefully staying longer than a year and a half to see this happen. It's already been over a year and a half since receiving this verse, so the timetable is different (which I always anticipated), but the principle is the same.

I look forward to talking about the days when the Bay Area was one of the least churched places in the nation, as a memory, fading into the past as the good work of the God of Heaven and Earth moves forever forward.

Would you pray with me for this?

For such a time as this,
Pastor Jason

_{^{Photo by Rezaul Karim on Unsplash}}