There was a very strange news article being passed around at work that you'd have to see to believe. Apparently in Japan there is a problem with watermelons rolling around in the refrigerator. So one industrious company has found a way to grow square ones. I kid you not, and the pictures associated with the article showed a nice stack of them almost all perfectly cube shaped. The trick is to grow them in glass boxes, so the light comes in and the fruit get the right coloring and health benefits of the sun, yet end up conforming to the shape of the box. At roughly $80 a melon, though, that seems a bit steeper than I would want to pay. However the article claimed they were in high demand all over Japan.

People will pay for convenience. Get some food at the gas station when filling up and you're almost always guaranteed a stiff markup in price. Even when you purchase that. gas, the out-of-the-way station in your town is likely much cheaper than the ones along, the interstate. Go to the little local hardware store and not only will the price be high but, the selection will be limited as compared to the giants like Home Depot.

Some folks prefer the little stores to the big ones, and make do with what they can find. They don't always buy what they need, they get something "close enough" to do the job for them, which in turn often ends up costing them more when they try and fail and have to go back to a real store and get the right thing.

There are people in the bible who settled for "convenience" over quality. Lot chose the city land because it conveniently had lots of water and was good, easy grazing (turned out to be a bad choice!) Aaron's sons offered strange fire on the alter, I've often suspected because they didn't value the ceremony that God had laid out and instead cut corners on their duties. Saul became impatient that Samuel didn't show up right away and went and made offerings to God, which was not for him to do. Saul also was supposed to kill ALL the Amalekites but instead did what was convenient for him.

When it comes directly to worship, Cain chose wrong, which may have been a matter of' convenience. The people of God in the Old Testament often chose to follow the gods of' the people around them because they feared the true God of heaven, and put their trust in idols. Convenient to see and worship, but not so good when they needed divine help!

It was more convenient to kill Jesus than let him and his disciples "change the world", at. least that's what the Jewish rulers talked themselves into thinking. And of course Felix was looking for a more convenient time to hear the words of Paul, seeing how close to home they struck. It's also convenient to only attend Sunday morning services, too.

I like things myself that are convenient. It's nice when everything works out handy and not too much fuss is involved. I also am willing to play a little extra to save myself some time. But some things just can't be handled in so casual a manner. Anyone who teaches something short of what the bible says with the reasoning that a watered-down convenient message like faith-only will appeal to more people is wrong. No way will God accept us, if we live any old way we want 6 days a week on the condition we make it to the '`confessional" once a week and pay the right penance.

You think $80 is too high a price for a square watermelon, just for the convenience of it sitting nicely in your fridge without rolling around? Imagine your convenience costing, your soul! That's a price you can't afford. Think about it!

Randy