The Lighter Side

God really has a sense of humor!
Last night as my wife and I drove home from a day at Camp we found ourselves caught in a torrential thunderstorm.  Our little car was slipping all over the place as the rain came pounding down on the highway.  About 10kms from Saskatoon, it had had enough and decided it was going to "take a break" and so Val and I found ourselves sitting on the side of the road.

I was not impressed. . . .

Right away I had a bad attitude.  I couldn't stop thinking about the inconvenience, and the cost that will assuredly come with towing and fixing our car.  I thought to myself, "we really didn't need this."  So we phoned our son who came and picked us up and drove us home.

But this is the funny part:  as soon as I walked in the door of our house--bad attitude and all--I saw what my son and his friend had been up to. . . .they had bought 100 feet of drinking straws, had connected them end to end, inserted one of the ends in a jug of iced tea in the sink in the kitchen and ran the straws all the way down to the basement where they sat sucking on the straws to see if they could drink it from there!

It actually worked!

Now why on earth would God have this crazy stunt sitting right there in front of me when I walked in the door?  Because He wanted me to lighten up.  I didn't see it till the next day, but I slowly realized that the issues surrounding our car problems are pretty minor, and maybe it would be good to just take a breath and see things from a different perspective--a lighter perspective.

There was a time when the Israelites had been convicted of their sins of disobedience and they felt terrible about it.  Their hearts were heavy and things looked kind of dark.  But then Nehemiah told them (Neh 8:10) to "go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.  This day is sacred to our Lord.  Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

It wasn't that God wanted the Israelites to overlook their sorrow, because a broken and contrite heart is special to God.  But He knew that for their healing and health they needed to experience the fruits of joy in the Lord and when they did, the sun began to shine a bit brighter.

The joy of the Lord is our strength, is my strength, and yours too.  When we begin to grasp what it means to live in a vibrant relationship with Jesus, in every part of our lives---when cars break down, and when sons do wonderful, goofy things, THEN, then we are beginning to understand what it means to live in the joy of the Lord.  He is the Light of the world, and it's so much better to live in the light than the dark.

Jesus, today I ask that all who read this would be filled with your light.  May joy spring up in them, especially those who are struggling in darkness.  Let them see what you can do. . . .

BT