Dahhh…

Wow it’s been a while since I’ve been on here. It’s not because there’s nothing going on in my brain…. (despite what it looks like from the outside..) There’s a lot going on up there, it’s just been that I’ve been too lazy to put those thoughts down.  This week I’m preparing for a bible study, so I thought this would be a good way to get those brain juices flowing again.

It seems like it’s been forever since I’ve led a bible study.  I actually kind of miss the days when Acacia was smaller, when the leaders could lead a study on whatever was on their heart.  That seems like a really long time ago.  But I guess that’s what our small groups are for.  Anyways, what’s been on my heart lately is the subject of joy, or lack of it. So I guess I will lead on that.

In truth, it seems a little bit weird to study joy. It seems like something we either have or we don’t. We can describe what it feels like to have it, but it’s kind of hard to qualify it in words. But I guess I will try. Usually the very first thing I do when I lead a study is to google the subject. That seems like a good start. Here’s what I learned today that’s applicable to the study…..

When I did a search on the NIV version of the bible on biblegateway.com, I came up with 242 different verses. There are 10 Hebrew words and 7 Greek words used in the bible to describe joy. There’s obviously a lot on the subject.

Here are the Hebrew words:

• giyl/giylah – rejoice, be glad
• duwts – to leap, dance, spring
• chedvah - gladness
• masows - exultation, rejoicing
• rinnah/ranan/rannen – ringing cry of entreaty, supplication, proclamation or praise
• suws - to exult, display joy
• samach - to cause to rejoice, gladden, make glad
• simchach - mirth, gladness, pleasure
• sasown - exultation, rejoicing
• teruwah - alarm, signal, shout

Here are the Hebrew words:

• agalliasis - exultation, extreme joy, gladness
• euphrosune - good cheer
• kauchaomai – to glory on account of a thing
• oninemi - to receive profit or advantage
• skirtao - to leap
• chairo - to rejoice exceedingly, also used as a salutation in beginning of letters
• chara - joy received from you, cause or occasion of joy

Anyways, that was probably a pointless word study, because I will probably not remember it.  But the thing I got out of it was that joy is a very important part of the bible, it shows up in many places, and there are many different words for it.  The importance of joy comes up in Galatians 5:22.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness….

Joy is a fruit of the spirit.  In fact it is the second fruit of the spirit, mentioned after love.  We talk about biblical love a lot, but it seems like seldom that we talk about joy, but it’s obvious that joy has a very important place in the life of a believer…….

A few weeks ago, I randomly had a conversation with a friend about what it means to be a manly man.  I liked her definition, “a manly man is someone who is not afraid to stand up for what he believes in.”  I am still trying to find my definition for what it means to be a man.  I think a lot of it has to do with service.

For the past few years it’s been Acacia’s tradition on Valentine’s day for the guys to cook for the sisters.  This year, to go with that, we had a short message.  The typical message in these situations seems to be from Ephesians 5, which has the command, “husbands love your wives…..”

Love is many things.  First Corinthians 13 makes that very clear.  Love is also about service, as I pointed out in the last post, Jesus showed the full extent of his love through the amazing service of washing his disciples feet.  So I guess if we take Jesus as the example for manliness, I guess that would mean my definition for manliness would be this.

“A manly man sets an example of love through serving.”

Of course this love is not just the love between husband and wife, and it manifests itself in different ways with different relationships.  The way you love/serve your wife would be different from your friends and from your coworkers for sure… but the basic concept is the same.

Last year in Acacia we had a set of core values that we chose to be our focus for the year. I still remember the acronym, CLOUDS, and each of the letters… Community, Lordship, Outreach, Unity, Discipleship, and Service. I still remember most of those studies pretty well too, but there is one study in particular I remember very well, not because it was a very good study… In fact I remember it because it was the worst study I had ever been to, sadly it was one that I was leading. The passage was John 13, Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. Sounds like it should be pretty straightforward, but for some reason it just didn’t work, and I still am haunted by memories of it….. Haha well I guess it’s not really that severe that I have nightmares, but from time to time I think about that study and how bad it was…

Anyways, recently I was reminded of that study again.  This month I started going to BSF (which stands for Bible Study Fellowship I’m guessing) and ironically the first week’s study is on that very same passage.   But strangely the study doesn’t focus too much on the obvious act of service shown by Jesus, instead it focuses on the love that Jesus showed in his last hour. The first few verses show of John 13 show that Jesus was fully aware that his time was coming soon.  He fully knew the hardship that he would soon face, but until the end, what shows is his love for his disciples.  The first verse sets the stage for Jesus’ famous act of service and why it really is an act of love.

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having LOVED his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his LOVE.

The act of service shown by Jesus was an outpouring of His love, and it was a precursor to Jesus’ greatest act of service and also his greatest outpouring of love, his death on the cross.  In verse 14, Jesus tells his disciples that they should be washing each others’ feet.  He doesn’t explicitly say it in this passage, but he says it in so many other places, that we should love each other.  Jesus’ act of service is really an outpouring of that love.  Maybe that’s what I messed up in that study last year…. Service is not something that is forced, separately on its own, service really is the practical outpouring of love.  If we are to love one another, we are to serve one another.  If we serve one another, we are showing that we are loving one another.

I usually park between 6 to 8 blocks away from my work, depending on how late/early I am.  The place I park my car is not the greatest area, and I’ve heard from coworkers that cars have been broken into there.  In the two years that I’ve been parking there, I haven’t had a problem.

My daily walk to my car takes me underneath a couple of freeway overpasses.  Lately there’s been a homeless guy sleeping out there.  He’s pretty cool, quite friendly, and he has a dog that sleeps with him.  Today I happened to have an apple with me, so I asked him if he wanted it.  He said he couldn’t eat it because of his teeth, and he smiled, a nice smile, but filled with gaps. I also had a grapefruit with me, which he ended up accepting.

Anyways, that got me thinking…. well the first thing I thought was, “next time I’ll bring an orange…”  The second thing I thought is that I’m really limited in my capacity to help.

The third thing that I’ve been thinking was maybe I’m the one that needs help. I thought about that gap toothed smile, a simple smile that reveals a simple contentment.  I trudge to work every day, and never have a simple smile like that… The simple joy from the simple grace of simply being alive…. that should be reason enough to smile.

Wow what a beautiful night.  After what seemed like endless stormy / cloudy nights, the stars are out. The Stars Are Singing

The Stars Are Singing by Mainstay

I’m pretty impressed with this group called Mainstay.  It’s the first christian album I’ve bought in a long time; I usually just cherry pick individual songs on Itunes.  Their album is called “Become Who You Are.” Amazing vocals, both upbeat and mellow songs, heartfelt lyrics… this album’s got it all.  A lot of the lyrics really speak to me, especially the lyrics from the last song on the album, “Hang On.”

I don’t know how I got to where I am
All I know is that I want to go back
to the moment when I fell in love with grace
and I hear You whisper

Hang on, I know your hope seems gone
Hang on, sometimes the heartache makes you strong
Remember the first time love turned you around

I try my best to pray but my heart won’t move
And all the words the saints say, they just don’t help
I want to go back to when I first called out Your name
and I hear You whisper

To the moment when I fell in love with grace
To the day when I first called our Jesus’ name