JOY INVINCIBLE

Business as usual”, the young twenty something waiter tells himself as he flashes his “business as usual” smile to the strangers sitting in his “business as usual” section. He serves their “business as usual” drinks and takes their “business as usual” orders. His focus however is more on the television as his favorite sports team conducts “business as usual” on the football field and is minutes away from winning again. If only he was at the game, he pretends to nod his head as he jots down the orders in his “business as usual” way. On the way to the kitchen, he picks up the tip left behind from the last table. It’s twenty dollars and he pockets it in his apron pocket, with the rest of his profits from the busy afternoon. His team wins again, tables are tipping well, he can’t help but think about the hot date he’s got later with the new girl on campus. He laughs at a joke told by one of his co-workers as he inputs the orders into the computer. Life is good, just “business as usual”. His manager calls out to him, he turns around and sees her standing at the “to go” counter, holding the phone. She motions for him to take the phone from her hand, curious, he grabs it and tries hard to listen while covering his left ear to block out the noisy kitchen. “Hello?”, he cracks a smile as he watches one of his co-workers accidentally drop a load of dishes. His smile quickly fades, shock and disbelief soon settle in, he can’t believe what he’s hearing. More laughter coming from the kitchen, but he’s zoned them all out, nothing else matters right now, he slams the phone in anger and screams. “Be tough, be strong, you got this”,  he tells himself but the emotions get the upper hand and he pounds his fist over and over against the wall. The manager tries to console him, but one look at him and she knows. Being a mother of three, she knows the look, the look any child gives you when they’re lost and trying to find their way home. It’s the same look she had when her whole world shattered before her, the day she first set eyes on her husband of seventeen years, laying lifeless in a hospital gown. All of the dreams and plans they shared, now forgotten and discarded like items in a card board box in lost and found. For the young man, all he could muster was “mom, why did you leave me?”, there was nothing he could do, her car was found upside down off the interstate bridge. The woman who raised him by herself, who was his best friend and believed in him, had now left him for good. Her car flipped upside down, his life along with it. No more business as usual. Death, it comes for us all and stories like these occur everyday. Sometimes the narrative is told through the lives of others and we are the minor characters who watch from afar, and sometimes the story includes us and we are forced to play the main characters in a tale we want nothing to be a part of. Why? Why us? Why now? Where’s my happy ever after? These are questions we all wrestle with, no matter how mature we are in Christ. We all question God, some of us even get angry with God and some of us unfortunately turn away from Him. No matter where we are in this story, Death is the antagonist we all must face as we turn through the pages of our lives. The question is, not how to avoid it but how are we going to handle it when it comes? If you are going through it now, my heart goes out to you. God has never promised us that there would be no suffering in this life but He does promise us that for believers in Christ, He would never forsake us nor leave us. He did promise us that He was preparing a place for us in heaven, He did promise us that one day, He would resurrect our bodies and that one day there would be no more suffering, and that one day He would wipe away every tear. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ just flip through the pages of your book and you will find that Death dies and we live! All this is made possible because Jesus, the author of our story became a character in our novel. He became death for us on the cross. He knew great loss when He was separated from His Father. “Father why have you forsaken me?”, He cried as He hung on a cross. He gave His last breath and descended into the depths of Hell. Just when the demons thought they had Him bound to the chains of Hades forever, three days later, He rose! Three days later He triumphed over the stink of the grave. Death lost that day and because of His resurrection we too can triumph over the grave. Is Christ in your story? If not, I encourage you before you get to the end of your book, to invite Him to be a main character in your narrative. Ask Him to come into your life and put your trust in Jesus, believing He is the only way to overcome Death. Having Jesus in your story won’t take away the suffering you may have to face nor will it take away the pain of loss in life but He will give you His peace and He will give you His joy to overcome it. The God of suffering knows a thing or two about loss and death but He also has mastered a thing or two about life after death and what it takes to win. If Jesus overcame death, we too can overcome. What chapter do you find yourself in? Will you let His invincible joy take over, will you let Him be the center of your story? Death will rear it’s ugly head, that chapter is coming but if your story is about you, then you will lose and Death will overcome but if it’s about Jesus, I promise you, you will find your happy ending. Suffering with loss? Hurting and feeling crushed by the pain? Remember the author of our story wants to be in our story. He wants to walk through the pain with you. He wants to be that shoulder to cry on, He wants to be the words that will encourage your heart. He wants to be that invincible joy to carry you through the suffering that can’t destroy. Remember Job in the scriptures? He suffered great loss and lost his family, his livestock, his wealth, everything. However, he was still able to muster up his praise. “The Lord gives, the Lord takes away but blessed be the name of the Lord”.  Look to Him for your spark child of God, in time things will heal, our happy ending is coming, take heart and remember we are the children of the promise.


Job 1:21 New International Version (NIV)
21 and Job said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.[a]
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”


John 16:33 New International Version (NIV)
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”


Deuteronomy 31:6 New International Version (NIV)
6 Be strong and courageous, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

 

Revelation 21:4 New International Version (NIV)

4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

 

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