Desperate Joy

  "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." - John 15:13, KJV In the final moments before Jesus was crucified, we find Him teaching his disciples a few last things.  As might be expected, He teaches them about love.  Love in this case means sacrifice.  It means the ultimate sacrifice. This is a stark contrast to the love that the world promotes.  We are told that love is just a feeling, "The heart wants what the heart wants."  This is love centered on desire.  If the desire is no longer there, then love is no longer there and it is time to move on.  This is a mundane, profane sort of love that centers on self-satisfaction and self-gratification.  This love is so different from the love Christ taught it is almost unrecognizable.  It is like comparing an egg to the moon or an ant to an eagle in flight.   We hear, "You can't choose who you love."  As though love is some involuntary re...

Recently I have been reflecting and writing about my childhood.  When I was little, right around knee height to adults I would often grab hold of my dad's leg for comfort and security.  I was a bit shy, so anytime we were in a crowd this was my way to feel safe and connected with my dad.  For some added fun, I would put my feet on top of his and he would walk around with me on it, stiff legged.   One time, we were at church and I found myself lost in a forest of moving legs.   I tried to pick out my dad's pants and shoes from the mess.   I found a match, and I latched on.   But then a strange voice greeted me and I looked up to see an unfamiliar face.   I had grabbed some strange man's leg!   This was not good.   Fortunately he was kind and helped me find my dad.   I was able to safely grab on to his leg once more.  It is amazing how in many ways I grow older and wiser, but somehow manage still stay naive and immature....

  I received a letter recently from a good friend of mine in Virginia who is a new father of a toddler son.  He described playing a game with his son where he would bounce a ball off his head and every time he did the boy would giggle and laugh with delight.  Over and over again the dad would bounce the ball off his head and over and over again the boy would laugh with delight.  I am sure he could perform this trick a hundred times and a hundred times his son would laugh and say, "Again!" Joy is the birthright of children and serves as a blessing and a lesson for all of us.  Children delight in the world because for them it is filled with wonder.  Everything they experience is new and exciting.  The world is filled with mystery and magic.  Every insect is a mythical beast, and every excursion a grand adventure.   These childhood feelings of wonder and joy are rooted in a desire for novelty.  We all want to have novel experiences, to...

  Prison is not much fun.  But from time to time the staff would show DVDs on the TVs in the pod.  We had a rule, that whatever movie was on, we put it on, no matter what it was.  One day they showed "The Princess Diaries" with Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews.  It was amusing to see a bunch of hardened outlaws watching "The Princess Diaries."   If it were up to me, I probably would have watched something else, but I decided to go ahead and watch it and enjoy some mindless entertainment.  I was pleasantly surprised. Anne Hathaway plays Mia Thermopolis, a rather plain and unpopular teenage girl who discovers that she is, in fact, a princess of a rather small, lesser-known kingdom in Europe, Genovia.   Her previously unknown grandmother, the queen of Genovia appears and tells her she is the heir apparent and must step into her role and responsibilities as a princess.   It is an interesting reprise of the classic Cinderella story.   T...