The Joy of the Lord

As long as I can remember, I have always been a happy person. Even to this day if you see me in the store or on the road you will generally see me with a smile on my face. Even this past week I had breakfast with one of our area associate pastors and the waitress wondered if I was a morning person to which I responded, “nope, just a person”. In fact, I have been so happy that years ago, when I was in the military, one of my commanders had me tested for drugs just for being too happy. But that is the middle of the story, so let’s start with a scripture first and a prayer.

1 Peter 1:6
6 so be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.
7 These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

There are three main areas were joy seems to get taken away. Let’s take a brief look at them and then I’ll tell you a story about someone who had these areas tested.

Things that will rob your joy:

1. Other people
2. Tragedies
3. Insecurities and past/present failures

How can we combat these joy robbers? When it comes to other people, I know a guy who knows a guy that will take care of them for a small fee. No, but let’s look and see if there is a scripture for how to have joy in spite of other people.

I started adult life early relative to most. I was married at 18, enlisted in the Air Force, and left for basic training 10 days after our wedding. After 3 months of being in the military, TK got pregnant with our first child, Jordan, all while I was going to school for radiology from 4 in the morning to 6 at night. Life was busy, but we were too young to notice which brings up a good point. God’s word says it is easiest to bear the yoke in your youth. Since most all of us are getting older, start today whatever it is that God has called you to do. It only gets harder as you get older. That was a free one, but you will have to break it down later. Let’s get back to the story. The military moved me and my pregnant wife to California to complete my clinicials for nine months. During that time, we made many lifelong friends. The baby came two days before my 20th birthday. On my birthday, I received orders to go to Japan. This was a shock to us and neither one of us wanted to go. I remember my wife of just over a year holding our baby setting up in our bed and crying as I told her that we weren’t moving closer to home like we had planned, but leaving the country for 3 years with this new and scary weight of being parents. She was willing, but I crumbled. I’ve always been good at getting what I want; at least what I think I want. So I told God, if he wanted me to go to Japan, He’d have to stop me from getting my orders changed. I started reading regulations, talking to my superiors, who told me it was impossible. I found a loop hole, and started making phone calls all over the world to classmates and airmen within my rank and skill level. I found a guy in Pensacola, Fl, who was a class before me and had orders to Tyndall AFB, Panama City, but didn’t want them. I then made more phone calls to the AETC and the PACAF majcoms, in efforts to devise this swap. I faxed affidavits, called commanders and after 3 weeks of night and day non-stop work, I got it changed. We were going to Florida. From 10000 miles away from family to 604 miles away from our hometown. I had done it. Must have been God, He didn’t stop me. Little did I know I had just entered into a nice sized fish that would take a little over 3 years to get out of? We settled into our 50 year old house, with the 22 coats of paint, and a waiver about the possibility of lead paint being used on the 1st couple of coats. TK and I were happy. We only had one car, so I’d rollerblade the 2.6 miles to work when Traci would need to go out for something. We were poor, but happy. Why not, life was good. I loved my career, my wife, my kid and our 800 sq ft home. We were content. After three months of being there it came time for my 1st evaluation ever. I was excited because I knew it was going to be great. I had finished my next skill level 6 months early, was about to take my National registry 1 year ahead of my peers and had started volunteering in the lab when the radiology department was not busy to help out and learn more. I had also become the Treasurer of the Hospital’s booster club. I was always early to work and had a smile from start to finish. I would often times take the weekend shifts for my co-workers so they could have the time off. Tk and I had moved and reorganized 27000 x-ray files, finding over 100 misfiles on my weekend shifts. As I sat down in front of my supervisor’s desk I couldn’t help but smile. My supervisor was a not a happy man. He had been in 13 years, hated his job, marriage and as much as anything, me. “You see Airman Hammonds”, he said with a scowl on his face, “that’s your problem, you are just too happy. It makes me sick, I want to throw-up with your can do attitude and willingness to always do anything.” He continued on by telling me he had 13 years of taking x-rays and he rated me against his abilities, not my peers and since he didn’t make good scores on his evaluations than I was going to make worse scores than him because I wasn’t any better than he was at radiology. What a gut check. I was devastated. No one had ever wronged me like this. Although he wasn’t able to give me low scores because his supervisor wouldn’t let him, he had dealt me a blow that would lead me down a horrible road with alcohol thinking that would help me be happy and deal with his continuing debasement and threats. I had let him rob me of my joy. Traci can tell you how bad it got. One day, near the end of our time at that base, he brought me in for an evaluation and told me if I ever told anybody about his infidelities in his marriage he would kill my wife and daughter. I walked out of the office, called Traci and had her leave the base and go stay with her Dad and came back in and addressed the situation the way any man would. Not too long after that, the Air Force told us that we could move anywhere we wanted to. Traci and I both felt we needed to go back to the start, so back to Travis AFB across the whole United States we traveled. Never again, I said, as I was baptized by my dad in our old church on the way to California. It was a new start for us. The people at Travis loved us. I immediately was promoted and became the manager over all the off-shift radiology personal. I was an E-4 and had E-5’s working for me. God had promoted me. Life was good, but money was tight, so I took a part-time job. I ended up taking 2! One of them was at Children’s in Oakland. After a few months of working there, I found myself in a whole new world. It was a trauma and oncology center for 18 year olds and below. The things I saw people do to children there, the inhumanities and tragedies still come up in my mind to this day. I will not go into detail as I could break the hearts of most of you and that’s not why God allowed me to see those things. I will give you this: the morbidity/mortality rate for our oncology patients was 90%. That means for every 10 children that came in with leukemia, 1 walked out. I would come home and sit on the couch for 30 minutes without saying a word to my wife and kid every time I’d work a shift there. I was trying to quiet the hatred and grief I’d had gathered that day. I had lost all my joy for helping people and having a good life. This time it was Tragedy had robbed me of my joy. This took its toll on me, this loving, compassionate Christian guy. I silently slipped back into drinking but God had a plan and he wasn’t done with me yet. I got orders again. This time it was to Korea, a remote assignment. I immediately thought about how I could get out of it but, God wouldn’t leave me alone. I knew I needed to go, but was afraid I’d lose my family in the process. I struggled with it for a month, but decided I couldn’t go on living the way I was, I wanted to be a better husband and father, a better man, but I couldn’t do it where I was at. I had started playing praise and worship with my guitar in my garage nightly. For some reason, I knew I needed to. After 6 months of this, it was time to leave. I brought my wife and child back to Beaumont and set them up at my parent’s house. Hugged my daughter, kissed my wife and told them that when I came home in a year I would be a better daddy, a better father, and a better man of God. With that, I left, November 3, 2003. I arrived in South Korea the next day, nervous, excited and lonely. I remember my first night there. I had nothing in my room, not even sheets or a pillow. Just some empty closets and a bed. I laid down on the stained mattress and prayed a simple prayer; God, I told my wife that I would come home a better husband, father and man for you and I don’t know how to do it, so I’m going to do the only thing I can and read Your Word every night. Please help me. And with that, I opened my Bible and began to read in Genesis. For the first two weeks, I would go to work, come home, go out to the bar, come back home and cry as I read my Bible until I fell asleep. God was beginning to get through to me and then one Sunday morning, it happened. I woke up. The spirit of God filled my room and told me to go to church. I put on my dirty clothes from the party the night before and left for the chapel. My plan was to sit at the back, unnoticed and leave before it was over. Well I got there to find out I was 45 minutes early and was just in time for their Sunday school class. I staggered in to the small room and sat at the table with 8 others staring at me. After 5 minutes one of them said that the teacher could not make it and wondered if anyone wanted to teach. Wouldn’t you know it, God told me to teach it. “Are you crazy God”, I said in my head, as they passed out the lesson. Again, he said “teach the lesson”. I was afraid to let it go a third time as I was sure someone else would hear Him. I raised my hand and said, “I can”, with my head down which didn’t help because I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. “Are you sure” someone said. I opened the handout and closed it back and said John 3, “no problem”. I taught from memory while all these well dressed officers looked on in confusion to see this half drunk and dirty Staff Sergeant Exegete the scriptures. I finally got to sit at the back of the church trying to avoid causing a scene, but God wasn’t through. He came to me and I cried the whole service; loudly cried. Did I mention it was a Lutheran service? I guess God has a sense of humor. After church the Chaplain, two ushers and a hand full of people formed a circle around me. They began to witness to me, which only made me cry louder. I finally managed to tell them I was saved and God was dealing with me about my sin. Two of the guys took me out to eat that day, probably thinking I was suicidal. I cried the whole meal. One of them mentioned a contemporary p/w service that night and they were in the band, but were short a bass player. God chimed in, “Play”. I told them I would play and they were shocked again. I didn’t need any sheet music as I’d played bass for a couple years in a Christian band. The next week they needed a drummer. “I’ll do it!” This time God didn’t have to speak. The following week the PW leader quit the night before the service, but I knew what God had done because I’d been teaching myself to sing and play for 6 months before I got there. God had a plan the whole time. I went back to my dorm room, grabbed my guitar and worship books and ran back to practice and became the PW leader for the base. God had prepared me for this very moment. There was no looking back. God had changed my life within 3 weeks. No more drinking, no more smoking, no more cussing, no more lying, cheating, stealing. Everything was gone, all by the time I finished reading Genesis. God had returned to be the Joy of my salvation. The Word will change your life. I called my wife so excited to tell her I had changed. She didn’t believe me and wanted nothing to do with me anymore. I had hurt her too much. This sweet beautiful gift from God wanted a divorce. If this would have come out 3 weeks earlier, I probably wouldn’t be here today. It would have ruined me, but God had a plan. He set me up for success. This was the ultimate test. The test of having Joy and Peace in the midst of other people hurting me, the tragedy of an impending divorce and the insecurities of my past failures, but God showed me how to have joy even though the sorrow was all around me. Daily I read my Bible, prayed, fasted and sought God for peace and guidance. I learned what David felt like when it says “he encouraged himself in the Lord. I was all alone and not in control. I would have to trust God with my most prized possession in life, my family.

I’m here to tell you, you can have Joy in the midst of your hardest moments in life. God is as the scriptures say, “the lover and the lifter of my head”. I was able to beat the worry and fear with the Word of God, and a deep personal relationship with the Creator of all things.

So let’s recap with some words on how to have joy in spite of each one of the areas.

1. Other people

Luke 6:27-31
27“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.

I fought back the way the world does and lost, and it cost me dearly. Let God fight your battles. He knows what you are going through and if you will listen to Him, you will know what you are going to. I will say that again. God knows what you are going through, and if you will listen to Him, you will know what you are going to. To have Joy, let God fight your battles.

2. Tragedies

Hebrews 12:2
2 we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God's throne in heaven

We can’t control what happens in life always. There will always be tragedies, but we need to focus on Jesus. If Jesus can endure the shame and tragedy of the cross, we should be able to cast our burdens on him like the word says. Put your hope in Him.

3. Insecurities and past/present failures

Matthew 6:75
75 Suddenly, Jesus' words flashed through Peter's mind: "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." And he went away, crying bitterly.

Peter was able to recover and Jesus used Him greatly. He will use you greatly too. Let Him. Don’t think you’ve done too much to be restored. God will use you. It isn’t over yet. God is not finished with you. You are more in the will of God than you give yourself credit for. I was and you are too.

Psalms 126
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion; we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." The Lord had done great things for us; we are glad.

Joy is contingent upon faith and hope. Have you ever met those people who are dancing in there fiery furnace, or as Ken’s song goes laughing in the lion’s den. Those people just don’t know how bad it is. Maybe they are just in the fire with Jesus at their side untouched by the flames.

To have Joy you cannot look at your past or even your present mistakes, you have to focus on Christ looking in faith to a better tomorrow. My biggest insecurity at the end of my story was that I had done too much and had disqualified myself from being used by God. He corrected me one night as I prayed. He told me that I couldn’t disqualify myself; it wasn’t my choice, only He could count me out and I have never looked back since. When I fall, I fall forward. When you fall, don’t think that you’ve done too much and God is through with you. Fall forward, pick yourself up wash your face, and be like David and say, it is finished. Embrace God’s love, mercy and joy that are there for you.

Now today, I have joy from the faith and hope I have for my future in Christ Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. These light afflictions are but for a moment. Psalms 119:71 Lord God, it’s good that I’ve been afflicted because I’m come to know Your statues. Get some faith for your future by putting God in it. See yourself doing something for God and you will be able to have Joy in the midst of the biggest struggles of your life. Nothing can ever separate you from the love of God. Forgive and be kind to others.