Meandering across town ends with direct word

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico — Wandering the picturesque streets of this tourist town this morning, I had real trouble discovering an evangelical church to attend.

I visited the Catholic church, but I wanted to attend a church where the preaching might be somewhat more familiar. Finding no evangelical church, I stopped and asked an older gentleman, who pointed me to the other side of the town’s fruit and vegetable market.

Eventually, I found the Iglesia Emanuel del Nazareno. During the Sunday school class, an elder taught on Acts 20:24, where Paul says,

“But none of these things move me, neither do count I my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

The teacher asked us four questions: 1) Who called you? 2) Why did he call you? 3) For what purpose did he call you? 4) What are you doing with this calling? (Wow! Do you ever feel like God is singling you out in a sermon, giving you a wake-up call?)

At the end of his life, Paul faced imprisonment and death, yet he counted his life as nothing. His call drove him to finish well. His purpose and passion was to give testimony to the grace of God in Jesus Christ — the good news.

Today, there are somewhere around 13 million illegal aliens in the United States. Most are Mexican. An estimated 1.6 million are Guatemalan. Many live in fear of being kicked out of the country at any moment, losing their chance at the “American dream.” What if President Bush granted amnesty to whomever would claim it at a local county clerk’s office during, say, the last week of August?

Do I count my life, my interests and my time dear (my first priority to meet my needs), or do I go out of my way to testify to God’s grace, telling people who may not know of the “week-long” amnesty before judgment? I’m not good at this. It’s not something I do. But why not? It’s good news!

I spent the afternoon reading and thinking about Ephesians chapter 1, a treasure-trove of truths explaining God’s incredible calling for those who believe. He has adopted us as sons and daughters, washed our sins in Christ’s blood to make us perfectly clean without any blemish, given us his Holy Spirit and granted us an inheritance that lasts forever. Why? For the praise of his glorious grace. I don’t deserve any of this. I deserve God’s wrath and judgment, yet his grace in Christ is for anyone who believes.

God is awesome.

*****

Here are a few of the photos I took while I wandered around yesterday and today. There are more at my Flickr page, which you can also find by clicking on the slideshow on the right column. San Cristobal is quite a picturesque town, and the indigenous women wear colorful outfits (the men wear western attire).