I recently read a book called “Chase the Fun.” It was a 100-day devotional, but I read it in four hours over two days. I read some reviewers online that thought it was too religious for their taste. After reading it, I couldn’t disagree more. I would call it an autobiography. Yes, there were quite a few verses, but they didn’t speak to me the way the author intended.
What spoke to me was the author’s pursuit of finding joy in everything, which most definitely is biblical.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to hear what the Bible says about finding joy. I already know. I’ve read it countless times. Joy is the second fruit of the Spirit, right after love and right before peace.
The second verse of James says, “Count it ALL joy,” including the various temptations we face. And the trying of your faith, count that joy as well.
Count it all joy. Joy in this particular passage means cheerfulness or calm delight.
So I already know what the Bible has to say about it. What I need is some modern-day explanations on how to do it. I needed tips on how to apply those scriptures. I call it situational application. Find joy in taking out the trash? Okay, I’ll look around the can next time I empty it.
The book was very informative in looking for the fun. So I’d give it a ten out of ten stars for that. But to call it a Devotional? That’s pushing it.
I finished it last week, and we took a road trip Friday evening to visit my wife’s family in another state.
We were traveling down I-44 and noticed the sky changing. The good thing about the flatlands is you can see further than you can in the Ozarks. Directly over the interstate was a wall of clouds and rain. But on either side was a blue sky. We realized that with our current direction, we would run across some extreme weather. We could encounter it at 80+ miles per hour, or we could get off the turnpike and travel through it at 55 miles per hour.
We chose the latter. And we were thankful we did. The rain was blowing sideways, the trees were whipping back and forth, and the rain was so thick the road was hard to distinguish from the rest of the ground.
I didn’t realize when we left the house that we would encounter such weather. It wasn’t on our radar.
But having just finished the book about seeking joy in the less-than-spectacular, I tried to find some fun things about the trip.
One of those fun things was the light show we witnessed on I-44 and the bypass after we exited. The lightning was stunning. We got a panoramic view of it from one horizon to the other. It was awesome. The sun was setting on our right, the wall of rain was in front of us, and dusk was overtaking the sky on our left. I’ll never forget it.
But then we entered the storm. The lightning was no longer ahead of us — it was above us. We could see the flashes and hear the thunder, but the lightning bolts were overhead.
Instead of getting anxious and fretting about getting through the storm, I chose to look at the whole experience. And I found out that I enjoyed getting through it. We didn’t have a weather app to pinpoint the dangers. We just kept traveling to where we wanted to be.
The water doesn’t drain well in Oklahoma, and we hit several high-water spots. I pointed out to the boys how high above us and how far out in front of us the water reached. We were laughing and having a grand ole time inside the car, despite what was raging around us.
Eventually, we reached the other side of the storm.
And it was a beautiful summer evening on the other side.
Sometimes, to get through some things, it’s beneficial to look for the fun and the joy.
So I hope that whatever you’re going through, you can find some cheerfulness and calm delight.
to the travelers,
– Caleb
caneymountainblog.com 