Rejoice

Thursday I left work at 4:30pm and by 2:30am I was at the home of Nate & Erica Shorb. I then proceeded to spend 4 days of absolute bliss with the two of them. The drive went very well (more on that in the next post). It was so good to get on the road. I'’m very satisfied with my decision to drive instead of fly. I needed that alone time for some reason. I mean, it'’s not like my days are inundated with people or anything like that. I think I just needed to get out and have a little adventure of my own. Granted, I'’m not a very adventurous guy, but there'’s not a whole lot more freeing than driving on the interstate at 1am.

Bethlehem Pennsylvania is about as quaint as a town can get I think. I forget how flat Indiana is sometimes and I think that if I would end up somewhere with hills and mountains, that would be fine by me. The trees were beautiful still, which was a bit of a surprise, but on this sunny weekend it made for quite a spectacle outside. My dear friend Nate and I have taken turns over the past 3 to 4 months calling each other about every 3 weeks and telling the other one how desperately we need to see the other because we are in jobs that we can'’t really stand and every day is like another day of life being sucked right out of us. This has made for some very depressing times and mental and emotional stress of unparalleled measure for the both of us. I'’ve been planning to come out since labor day weekend, actually, and for whatever reason it hasn't been able to happen until this last weekend. Well, I do believe that the reason for the delay was for timing's sake. I showed up at a time when, I think we both seriously needed a dear friend within physical proximity and both needed to identify with someone else going through about the same sorts of things. And with that said, the coffee runneth over. What did we do? Not a whole lot except for talk. We ran into Philly one night for Cheese steaks, but other than that it was company. We drank and talked and talked and listened and put on another pot of coffee to drink afterward, then talked some more. How do you put into words the experience of coming back together with a true, genuine friend after too much time and distance have separated them? I am lost to describe it, but I know that God filled my spirit back up through the presence of my friend. It did not matter that what we were sharing were hard things, troubling things. It was of no consequence that at this particular juncture we are not spending our lives in ways that we would have hoped we were. It mattered that we were together, talking again.

It was very appropriate that Sunday night, at the bible study we attended, the topic was Romans 5 and Paul talking about suffering.

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

-Romans 5:3-5

We talked long and hard about the word '‘rejoice' in there. What'’s Paul talking about? So often we want to try and make what we would assume to be a literal interpretation in that we should rejoice, or be happy, or content, or optimistic, or any number of things that would allude to the idea that we should not be angry, frustrated, exasperated, pissed off, depressed, or hurting. This is not the truth, I don'’t think. Paul'’s a smart guy and Paul'’s also a guy who experienced his share of suffering. He knew what it was to get the crap beat out of him and run out of town. Do you think he was happy about the beating? Don'’t get me confused, he does talk about delighting in his suffering, but this is reference more toward the idea of it being a specific means to a particular end which he is very focused on (the spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles). I don't think Paul is stupid enough to think that we should all be so happy about getting the crap beat out of us either physically or mentally, spiritually, emotionally, etc. So, what is he saying and why does he throw that word '‘rejoice' in there then? Again, remember that Paul was a phenomenally smart guy. He was the equivalent of a lawyer in his days as a Pharisee. This is the book of Romans which is hardcore & in your face. It doesn'’t make sense that Paul would throw in a cheesy, flowery, warm and fuzzy word in here. And this is why when Paul says '‘rejoice'’ itÂ's important to understand that he'’s saying REMEMBER! Remember your faith in a benevolent God who is good for all of the promises he'’s made to you about you and your life'’s purpose and path. HeÂ's saying that you should remember that and bank on it. Doesn'’t mean that you should be happy about the fact that life sucks for whatever reason currently. Rather, it means that by remembering the reality of your life as a whole, you can continue on KNOWING that you will live to see better days. There'’s something about living with such confidence that produces a certain sort of hope. And grabbing hold of that internal hope is the equivalent of what Paul is imploring us to do when he says '‘REJOICE'’. Thus, the weekend ended in tearful, soulful, prayer and intercession for one another. My dear friends...

On a side note... If I were to ever experience a temporary moment of crazy sanity and courage you would be able to locate me out in Coopersburg Pennsylvania as the owner of Cooper Mansion. The plan would be to turn the downstairs into my coffee shop. The rest of the house would be turned into the beginning living arrangements for the commune that we'’re going to start. Shorb and Erica already said they are in. We think Neville would probably be game, as well as another couple from around there. I'’d take out some loans to cover the costs of starting up the coffee shop and the rest is history. It would either be called '‘Shorb'’s'’ or the Pieroggi Factory. Eventually everyone in the commune would staff the coffee shop which would support us all modestly. I think it'’s a wonderful plan, and though it sounds like a pipe dream of sorts, As we were brainstorming this all, I think that if I ever did decide to go for it, I think I could come close to pulling it off. Oh what a real chicken I am. There'’s not really a terribly good reason that I don'’t at least try to get this plan started and see if there'’s some way to get some of that money together to do such a thing. Again, what do I have to lose? So, yeah, if I all of a sudden disappear for a while, you may wanna check Coopersburg.