Q: Papa Lock
PAX: 30 second warning, flyball, Bail Bonds, Mooch, Gmail, Papa Lock, Hosed, Squeaks, Lax, Dogman
FNGs: 2 Lax, Dogman
COUNT: 10
WARMUP: Basic Stretches
THE THANG: Ruck Around and Find Out!
MARY: Cherry Pickers
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Dad Camp Aug 15-17
COT: Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10, NIV)
The Joy of the Lord. It seems like Christians are more comfortable touting Jesus for being a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, than we are with Jesus being a man of joy, acquainted with jubilation and celebration. If “the joy of the Lord is your strength,” a lot of us are a lot weaker than we need to be. Humorlessness is a malignant tumor on the soul. Interpreters think Sarah laughed because she was old and pregnant. I suspect Sarah was old and pregnant because she laughed. You need at least thirty deep laughs a day to keep healthy. Primary health ingredients in a “total wellness program” include love, faith, trust, hope … and laughter. We need to prescribe these medicines. I wonder why so many Christians would rather be on the “whining side” than on the “winning side?” You’d think the Bible had said, “Blessed are the moaners.” Jesus laughed and continues to laugh. Has it ever bothered you that in Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel portrayal of heaven no one is smiling? To be sure, putting on the mind of Christ means more than putting on a happy face. There is nothing that makes me sicker than a “happy face” faith. Joy has deeper dimensions than happiness or hilarity. Joy drives away all despair but not all depression. We will get depressed. Faith enables the dreary soul to become dreamy again through the power of these four words: “it came to pass.” It took God three days to turn the worst for Jesus into the best. Should I expect better from God for myself? Wait three days. Give God time to work on your behalf. Life is filled with nail-biting finishes, downcast days, and Titian-toned darkness. But joy always comes in the morning.
(Leonard Sweet in Soul Salsa, pages 187-188)