You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of your presence
and the pleasures of living with you forever.  ––Psalm 16:11, nlt

Jordy is almost always smiling. He’s the first person you see when you pull into the parking lot at church—with his reflective vest and orange directional wand. Not only is he there every Sunday, for several services, but he also volunteers at the food bank several days a week. No slapped on “Sunday smile,” either—he’s smiling on Monday when you run into him at the grocery store.

Honestly, Jordy kind of ticked me off a little for the first year or so after I met him. “He’s got to be faking it—no one is this happy all the time,” I thought. Week in and week out, same enthusiastic Jordy. Same me, waving back, a little flummoxed and frustrated. Then it hit me: “What if his happiness is real?” I had to find out …

One Sunday I caught Jordy after the crowds had thinned out. So I asked him, “Jordy, every time I see you, you are smiling. What’s your secret?”

He didn’t hesitate. He said, “Kenny, I spent the first half of my life unhappy and cynical. But after my 12-year-old son died of leukemia and my wife left me, I had to make a choice. Either totally surrender to the darkness or totally surrender to God. I chose the latter.”

Yeah. Wow. I had to hold it together as I walked back to my car. Once inside, I just sat there silently with tears running down my face. “Lord, please forgive me for judging Jordy as some sort of ‘fake Christian.’ He’s just the opposite.”

As God’s men, we have the same choice each day: God knows there is plenty to be cynical about in our respective lives. So we choose to take up the battle—and make no mistake, it is a battle—each morning to fight the darkness. The reality is that reports of death, disease, and disaster can be overwhelming; folks in our circle are suffering. Deny, ignore, pretend it’s not real? No. We follow a Man who lived in reality, but chose to confront that reality with the Father’s love. We do the same. We choose the same.

How? Take the posture of surrender each morning: “Lord, I can’t control the negativity and darkness, but I can allow Your light to filter through me. You are real, so make my joy real as You flow through me.”

Let God be the light through you. No need to fake it. Be the vessel that chooses to encourage, congratulate, and honor.

Lord, I can be cynical at times—pull out the roots of negativity in me, heal me, and then move more powerfully through me with Your joy.

 

 

Every Man Ministries