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

Suspicion v. Adoration

"Most of us have been trained in what is sometimes termed a "hermeneutics of suspicion."  People lie a lot.  And people who write lie more than most.  We are taught to bring a healthy suspicion to everything we read, especially when it claims authority over us.  And rightly so.  We examine and cross-examine the text.  What's going on here?  What's the hidden agenda?  What's behind all of this?  The three modern masters of the hermeneutic of suspicion are Nietzsche, Marx and Freud.  They taught us well to take nothing at face value."  - Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book, p. 68

For most of what we read this is a useful learning.  However, when we come to the Bible with this same approach to reading, we end up with "a small sawdust heap of facts."  We cannot lose this "hermeneutic of suspicion" because we must learn how to discern truth and throw out the junk.  The difference with the Bible is that there is no junk.  We can trust it, no matter what our learned conscious tells us.  Instead of approaching the Holy Writ with suspicion, we must approach it with a "hermeneutic of adoration," so we can see how big, how marvelous and how magnificent life really is.  We spend our time enjoying the world "both vast and intricate" that is revealed by the Text.

Again, this is part of our flawed system.  Think back to when you were a kid and your parents used to tell you stories.  There was a difference between fairy tales and family stories, right.  I mean, a fairy tale was a made-up story designed to spark our imaginations and often stretched our parents to the ends of theirs.  However, when Mom or Dad began to tell us stories of when they were kids, or when their parents were younger, we listened differently.  We listened with a trust that came easily when we were young.  Slowly, over time, this trust of story was replaced by suspicion.  Part of listening to the story of God is regaining that adoration, that trust, as we listen.  We can trust because it's been tested.  We can trust the words because we can trust the object of the words.

If we are going to eat this book, then we must approach it with less cynicism and more trust.  We must allow ourselves to enter into the story, so that the story can enter into us.  We must listen more with our feet and less with our ears, as we participate in the reading of the story.  We have a part to play, but we will never play our part until we trust the story.

The Life of a Church Planter

For almost a year, our family has survived on half the salary that we moved to the area with. We knew that the first couple of years would be difficult for the church to meet budget, but we also trusted God to take care of us. He has done just that over the past year, by using the generosity of people like yourself who have supported our church and us personally. The slim days of The Springs are not over, but the time has come for me to move out and find a way to make a little more money. So...

This morning I am leaving for an interview with a sign company here in League City. It's been a long time since I've been on this kind of interview. They are looking for a graphic artist and I seem to really like that, so my friend Justin gave me all of the information yesterday. I have been praying for a job that would provide us with the necessary resources, but still give me the freedom to work my primary job - The Springs. This could be a great opportunity for me to learn and grow in an area that I really love, but have never had an official job. Here we go.

If you are praying for us in our venture, take some time to pray about this possibility today. It's a growing time for me.