This post is from a letter in August 2008 when my wife, Jessica, and I lived for a year in Honduras while teaching at a Bi-lingual school: Moriah School. 

The other day, as Jessica and I sat in the clinic with IV’s in our arms, I was reflecting on the Christian life. It is easy to be joyful in the air-conditioned cockpit of a Honda, but what does the true joy of a Christian look like? Happiness is of course a part, but since it is defined by our emotions it tends to be only temporary by nature. Joy then is something deeper. Unfortunately we live in a country, America, which defines joy as the outcome of emotionally pleasing experiences. It’s even stamped into our constitution. As Cadillac loves to remind us in its commercials, America thrives on the pursuit of happiness. It’s easy then to forget that Christ defined joy differently. In fact, as Paul states in Hebrews, He counted the humiliation and pain of Calvary as insignificant in comparison to the joy he would inherit through the cross. Here we find the true joy of the Christian, a joy that exists only through death. “Take up your cross and follow me”, Jesus admonished his disciples. Today we find the cross to be a nice trinket, perfectly polished, the rough sides sanded and made symmetrical. We forget that Christ’s cross was splintered, overwhelming heavy, and eventually bloody. This is the cross we are called to carry; a cross that to the world appears morbid and sad, yet to the redeemed reminds us of the new life Christ created. As Christians that live in a sin-filled and fallen world we are destined for pain, sorrow, and burdens. Even Jesus, God himself, still bears the scars of Golgotha. Yet we know a joy that happiness alone will never bring; the joy of a risen Savior!