Becoming Joy

Five years ago this week, I ran my first marathon. I’ve shared before how I’m built with short, stocky legs and a stout body—not exactly a runner’s physique, less like a gazelle galloping through the woods and more like a pig on a treadmill.
Nonetheless, I completed my first marathon, which, to this day, remains the only marathon I’ve run.

The Dallas Marathon is generally a great experience. It usually enjoys favorable weather, has very few hills, and runs through beautiful neighborhoods, starting and ending downtown. The halfway mark wraps around White Rock Lake, which evokes a love/hate response among runners. The crowds have cleared out, it’s lonely, and you’re the at the furthest point out in the race.
Right after you curve around the lake, there’s a slight elevation that provides a clear view of downtown Dallas—13.1 miles away…and you have to run to get there.
For me, in that moment, in the middle of the race, I thought to myself,
“Maybe I could just collapse, and they’d carry me across the finish line. But would I still get the medal?”

Training often combines rises and runs.
Think of stairs: if you faced a wall, that would only be a rise; a flat surface would just be a run. To move to the next level, you need both—a proper balance is crucial. If the rise is too steep and the run is too short, you won’t make it or it will be incredibly difficult.. It’s similar to climbing steps in an ancient city or an old farmhouse.
Our lives mirror this rise-and-run dynamic. We work or play hard, and whether we like it or not, we must sleep. If we neglect sleep, our bodies will eventually force us to rest.
Living a life solely dedicated to leisure can lead to destructive habits, a depressive state, or binge-watching every streaming series ever.
We must be intentional about our rises and runs. Sometimes, challenges in life, obstacles, and difficult seasons are unseen and unavoidable. If we prepare for them ahead of time, however, it’s much easier to endure.

This is the third week of Advent, focused on Joy. Our calling is to cultivate a deeply rooted joy that stems from God amid life’s ups and downs. One way to prepare for this is by intentionally celebrating and abstaining, feasting and fasting, praising and lamenting. In this rhythm, we can prepare our hearts and minds to find joy in Jesus in all circumstances.
One tradition in our faith that helps us refocus on Christ is the practice of fasting. When we intentionally remove food from our lives for a period of time, we create moments of suffering or going without where we depend wholly on God and find joy in Him.

John Mark Comer writes in his book, Live No Lies:
“Fasting (far from a medieval form of self-hate) when done rightly is a pathway to freedom. Fasting is practicing suffering; it’s teaching our bodies to suffer. Suffering is unavoidable in life; joy is not. In fasting, we’re learning how to suffer with joy.”

Jesus fasted, and so did His early followers. Taking time to fast or abstain helps us become more like Him. We often say that in the journey of formation, when we follow Jesus, we abide in Him, we are changed by Him, and we embody His ways, for the glory of God and the good of others. If Jesus was the most joyful person who ever lived—despite knowing everything He did—perhaps becoming more like Him will also fill us with joy.

In this new year, we are going to share teachings on fasting so we can learn to find joy in God amid suffering. This way of life can help us see the real needs of others and develop a deep care for them.

Mother Teresa, who dedicated her life to serving the poor and marginalized in dark and difficult places, understood that the Joy of the Lord is what sustains us every day. She said,
“Joy is prayer. Joy is strength. Joy is love. Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. You give the most when you give joy. God loves a cheerful giver. Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of Christ risen.”

Do not let the pain and fears of this world dominate your heart and soul. We were never meant to live that way, and I’m not even sure we can.

Henri Nouwen states,

“Joy is essential to the spiritual life. When we are not joyful, our thoughts and words cannot bear fruit. Jesus reveals to us God’s love so that His joy may become ours, and our joy may become complete. Joy is the experience of knowing you are unconditionally loved and that nothing—sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death—can take that love away. We can be unhappy about many things, but joy can still be there because it comes from the knowledge of God’s love for us. Joy doesn’t simply happen to us. We must choose joy and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God, finding in Him our refuge and safety—nothing, not even death, can take God away from us.”

Just because the situation you are in isn’t what you hoped for doesn’t mean the future you hope for is the only future with hope. Even in chaos, peace can be on the horizon. Sometimes, amid darkness and difficulty, hurt and sorrow, beauty emerges, and joy can be found.

In case you’re waiting on pins and needles, I did finish the marathon—barely. I hadn’t trained properly, hadn’t run more than 15 miles before that day, and had not navigated the course or timed my eating, drinking, and restroom breaks. So, it was hard—really hard…like unnecessarily hard. But I did it.
It didn’t have to be that challenging. What would have made it better?
Better preparation, better planning, and a more balanced approach to work and rest.

This Advent season, this Christmas, and this year, you will inevitably face difficulties, challenges, chaos, or loss.
What if we prepared ourselves by learning to find joy in any and every situation? This doesn’t mean we should be happy-go-lucky or disconnected from reality; rather, we choose to find joy in something greater than ourselves.
When we can see joy, live joy, and embody joy, we experience a foretaste of what’s to come—a slice of heaven amidst our struggles. The prophetic words in Scripture speak of waiting, trusting, and not fearing, for Emmanuel (God with us) would one day come. It took 750 years.

We live in the reality of Christ has come and we now have the Spirit with us.  We are not alone.  Our God is with us.
In our darkness, difficulties, hurt, and despair, we can become a people of joy because joy is with us. Our God is with us.
Seek joy. Choose joy. Choose joy each and every day. Look for joy in your life. Don’t settle for cheap, manufactured joy; instead, experience true joy from God and become joy filled. Joy in the midst of sorrow. Joy in the midst of pain. Joy for the outsiders. Joy for everyone. Joy to the world.

I hope you will continue to journey with us as we become more like Jesus and grow into more joyful people.

If you haven’t picked up an Advent Guide, Becoming Christmas, we still have a few hard copies left and there are digital versions available online, along with all the Christmas details at TheChapelatSeaside.com/Christmas

A few reminders for the coming weeks here at The Chapel.

• If you are interested in year end giving to continue to help the ministry of The Chapel, we are a 501c3.  Your generous gift is tax deductible.  If you want to know more about where our money goes or some of the other great organizations we help support, you can go to thechapelatseaside.com/give where we have a Frequently Asked Questions page and also a link to give online.
• We have our noon prayer hour every Tuesday at noon.  This Tuesday will be the last one for several week.  We will NOT meet on Tuesday, December 24th or Tuesday, December 31st.
• Bible studies have wrapped up for the year.  If you missed any, I hope you’ll check out our Chapel Study Notes podcast where you can get caught up on the entire Exodus study.  Check them out on Spotify here, Apple Podcast here, or wherever you stream.
• All of our studies will be back in the New Year.
• In case you didn’t know the paid parking has paused for the season in Seaside, so when you come to worship, you don’t have to pay.
• Our Christmas Eve Services will be Tuesday, December 24th at 4pm and 5:30pm.  We’ll have seating inside, outside in the grove, and under a tent on the lawn.  We look forward to you joining us for one of those services.
• If you are out of town, under the weather, or just need to worship from home, you can watch our live-stream on our website, thechapelatseaside.com, on our Facebook page, Facebook.com/TheChapelAtSeaside and our Vimeo page, Vimeo.com/thechapelatseaside.

Let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to seeing you soon.   I hope you will follow along in the Advent Guide, Becoming Christmas each day.  And this week, let’s become Joy.

Blessings,

Andrew