joy is cool

As many of you at River West already know, this Easter I have been overwhelmed with a feeling of joy. For you River Westers, Guy shared some of the reasons for that joy on Easter Sunday. (Listen to Guy’s Easter message at http://www.riverwest.org/teaching/index.htm ) For all the rest of you, here is what I wrote to the Gray’s that Guy shared:

And yes, Easter is here and boy do I miss you all. It just isn't the
same. But God is so present and near that I am satisfied
nonetheless. Really this is the first Easter I can remember that joy is my
primary emotion--gratitude is in every pore.

Normally Easter is kind of a morose time for me because I am so focused on my sin and the price Christ had to pay for my sin. And yes, I have always celebrated Resurrection Sunday (as Ginny Rodriguez calls it) and am so grateful and relieved that the guilt is washed away and that I live in the risen victory of a risen Jesus—but nonetheless, the overall emotion of the holiday week (or weeks) is kind of sadness ending with a good dose of victory.

Well, this year has been different. Sure, I am removed from my community of faith, family & friends at Easter—such an important annual marker in my faith. And I barely knew any of the songs that we sang on Easter morning—so my ability to worship via song was a bit thwarted. And I am still pretty sin-filled and am still very aware of what responsibility the cross means to my life. And yet, amidst all of this, I feel kind of skippy and happy and so aware of what a lovely world we are all a part of. I know it sounds a bit Pollyanna, but the thing is, it’s true. I have been praying for the past few months that God fill me with His love and really show me how to completely love other people—and I mean love, the real way, the selfless way, the for no reason except Jesus way, the love thy enemy way. As I have prayed for this, apparently the first step was to overwhelm me with God’s deep, abiding, adoring love for me. You see, the more I read the Bible, the more I pray and the more I see God work in relationships in this world, the more I realize how very much God loves the littlest and least of this world—and that certainly includes me. And that truth is so deeply quieting—God really loves me—a LOT—no matter what bonehead maneuvers I pull—ever. I was reading the following in John and I liked how The Message describes God’s lavish gifts and that is what I feel this overwhelming sense of joy is in my heart this season.

John 3:34-36
"The One that God sent speaks God's words. And don't think he
rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. The Father loves the Son
extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away—a
lavish distribution of gifts. That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son
gets in on everything, life complete and forever! And that is also why the
person who avoids and distrusts the Son is in the dark and doesn't see life. All
he experiences of God is darkness, and an angry darkness at that."

So good. Yes, life is so good for each of us when God is there just loving the stuff out of us all the time. I sure hope you are experiencing that life also—and if you aren’t, I wish you would just try it out—just open yourself up to how God might be able to love you. Trust me when I say that I am the least of you and if he can love me that much—he can do the same for you.