It's Hard to Be Happy

Today is one of those days when it's hard to be happy. I am helping our Kidsprings director take 15 or so kids to a wildlife park today...no that's NOT what makes it hard to be happy. I have two of the best kids in the world that give me every reason to smile. I have a beautiful wife that gets my heart pumping as fast today as she did 20 years ago. I have three great jobs. All is good and I should be happy..but today it's hard.

Last week, I got word that another one of my good friends, and ministry partners, has cancer. I have another good friend who is watching his parents both battle cancer at the same time and this week learned that his wife's father was killed. Today is just one of those days when I sat down at Starbucks with my Shaken Iced Tea Lemonade and wanted to write something fun and exciting, but it's hard.

In my world, hard does not equal impossible though. So, though there is some pain in the offering today, still I will say "Blessed be the Lord." In the middle of difficulties and watching friends suffer, I know that they are not on the journey alone. This morning, I came across these two verses that solidify my hope.

"The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me." (Job 30:27 TNIV)

"But those who suffer he delivers from their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction." (Job 36:15 TNIV)

"I know that I can cope with the hardships of life and with death because of the hope I have in Jesus Christ." My family and I pray that Father continues to build this virtue into our lives. This is one of those seasons when the hardships of life and with death are right in our faces. We will walk this road in faith - a fully-sighted faith that produces confidence in us because Father has been faithful to others in the past. It doesn't make it easy, but it does make it bearable.

The David Crowder*Band is one of my favorite bands for many reasons, but I think the primary reason is because they write music that is rooted in real life. They are worship leaders that get that life sucks sometimes and we don't have to sugar-coat it, but we also don't have to be paralyzed by it. A Collision was a CD written out of the darkness of loss and tragedy. Remedy brought the Ultimate Hope into focus. On Tuesday, they released their new single - How He Loves. I thought I'd pass along the song and lyrics - listen and be strengthened:

He is jealous for me,

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

When all of a sudden,

I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,

And I realise just how beautiful You are,

And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,

Oh how He loves us,

How He loves us all

He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,

If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.

So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,

I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,

When I think about, the way…

He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

Written by John Mark McMillan / Performed by David Crowder*Band on their upcoming "Church Music" CD