The Laughs

Ive been doing a lot of soul searching and have been looking inside of myself a lot in the past couple of weeks. I think mostly because im starting to realize that I am growing up and that I desperatly want to define who it is that I am and what it is that I stand for. In doing so ive been examining the bahavior and actions of the people I respect and look up to trying to piece together what kind of man im supposed to be. In doing so ive discovered two aspects of a christians walk that I feel are the most important and those are the "laughs" and the "resolve". Ill talk about the "laughs" today and the "resolve" next time.

Ive was thinking a lot about Josh recently and really been examing the impact that he's had on my walk and life in general when i realized that he taught me a very important aspect of faith. When Wes was leading the youth group it seemed as if every night was the last night on earth and that we needed to strengthen ourselves and desperatly fight the sin within and without ourselves. They were good messages but at the same time the group always seemed to have a more somber feel to it. Then Josh came in. I didnt really know what to think of him because his approach was so differant to anything id been exposed to before. Josh poured himself into worship and really just fought to allow the youth to have lots of fellowship and to love each other and God with all that we have. And then occasionally we would have a serious talk about the threat of the enemy and how we have to be strong, trust in God, and fight with all our might.

At first I was upset with Josh because I felt like he wasnt really that serious about the job and that he was just playing around. Then it hit me, as humans we are constantly at war. We are at war with the evil people of the world with the famine, disease, and corruption that runs rampant through every government and every continent of the world, and most direly we are at war with ourselves.

If we are going to stand a chance in this fight, if we are to meet the challenge before us we need to balance our laughs and our resolve. Without our laughs our resolve and our strength to fight the enemy is useless. Josh is a fun loving guy who loves to praise and hang out with other christians and just be together. And now i realize that its those times of fellowship that we grow and acquire the strength to go into the world and fight the war that we are faced with every single day.

When we look really hard we find that this world we live in is truly a dark place and that it is through God's grace and through the company and support of the people that we love that make this world beautiful. So my christian brothers and sisters rejoice that our God is a loving God. Turn to the person next to you and love them serve them and rejoice that you can help your fellow man. Go out and have fun, laugh with your friends and your family. Dont hold on to anger and judgment because they destroy our ability to enjoy life. Go and laugh my friends because it is through the laughter that we gain the strength to fight and be the men and women that we are called to be.

Psalm 126:2Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."