JOY!

                                                                                                       
After being away for some time I get the pleasure of teaching at ATB this Sunday following in the footsteps of some great teachers who kicked off our series on "The Life You've Always Wanted" by John Ortberg. Having the choice of a couple of topics, one I picked was "A Dee Dah Day" which is all about JOY!

We will be talking about lots of things this week, but one will be about the little girl who does the Dee Dah Dance to express her unbridled childlike joy. When was the last time you felt so joyful that you broke out in a happiness dance? Is JOY a part of your day or are you in too much of a hurry to take the time to be thankful, to appreciate the goodness in your life, or to watch your your kids just act with wild abandon like they have no care in the world?

Remember in the book of Genesis when God said, he created the world and it was good? He was doing his version of the Dee Dah Dance thinking what a wonderful place he made. Then he created more good things, and they too were good. But how often do we as part of that good creation not have JOY but instead focus on the negative like we don't have enough, or the factor of time which we never seem to have enough of?

Lots of questions I know but I discovered by reading and preparing with this chapter that my life is just absolutely overwhelmed with JOY.  Yes, there were many valleys before the mountain top but God has shown up for me and he is dancing with delight I am sure because my intent is to spread as much JOY as I can. Not just normal JOY but the kind that makes you want to get up and dance.

There are so many unhappy folks out there that have just missed this joy thing that the objective is to gather together as many of us who are full of JOY, and spread the good news that they can change, life can indeed change when you get hooked up with God.

Louis Smedes said "to miss out on joy is to miss out on the reason for your existence".

I want to do more than just exist, I want to dance with JOY and celebrate every day as if it were a Dee Dah Day!  God is truly good!