Joshua was the last to be assigned a territory in the Promised Land. Unlike the rest of Israel’s children who received their inheritance by lot or the casting of small pebbles similar to what we think of today as dice, it says in Joshua 19:50 “they gave him the city which he asked.” Joshua and Caleb received the land they wanted because they were the only survivors of the wilderness generation. When they were sent to spy out the Promised Land, they came back with a good report and believed they could overcome the people who lived there.

The Promised Land is described as a land flowing with milk and honey. It was a fruitful land and the city Joshua chose to live in Timnath-serah, which means “portion of (the) sun” (8556), could be described as a hot spot in Israel because it was located on a mountain facing toward the location where the Messiah was expected to arrive, Bethlehem. In a way, you could say Joshua wanted his family to have front row seats for the Messiah’s arrival. It’s possible that Joshua’s descendants were among the shepherds that received the announcement of Christ’s birth and visited him in the stable.

Sometimes I think about where I would like to live if I could live anywhere in the world. Every time, I always come up with the same answer, exactly where I’m at right now, Costa Mesa. What makes Costa Mesa special is that it is the home of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, the church founded by Pastor, Chuck Smith.

The Calvary Chapel ministry began in the 60’s during the hippie age and became famous for the trend of people coming to church dressed however they wanted to, even barefoot in some cases. Up until that time, everyone that went to church was expected to dress up and had their “Sunday clothes.” I think it’s interesting that Jesus was born in a stable to parents that were not rich and famous. I think Pastor Chuck was raised during the time when going to church was just a ritual that people went through and he understood that it was not going to church that mattered, it was what you did after you got there that was important. Calvary Chapel is famous for it’s worship and the teaching of God’s word is central to its mission.

If it weren’t enough that I live just minutes from Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, for the past five years I have had the privilege of being a member of Greg Laurie’s church Harvest Christian Fellowship. Greg Laurie is probably the most effective evangelist in the world today. Every year thousands of people are saved at the Harvest Crusade. A couple of years ago, Pastor Greg launched Harvest America, an annual event that enables hundreds of thousands of people to hear the gospel preached. I don’t believe it will be long before technology will enable the Harvest ministry to expand worldwide.

So here I am in the hot spot of Christian ministry and I can’t help thinking, how did I get so lucky? Well, I didn’t get here by a roll of the dice. I actually believe God called me here, particularly because of what is going on in the ministry and who knows, maybe I will end up having front row seats when Christ returns and raptures the church into Heaven?