the REAL joy of the Lord

Many times in my life I have heard the expression "the joy of the Lord." And like any good Christian I have put on a smile and front that shows just how "joyful" I really am. However, this past Sunday night at our church we had one of the missionaries we support here to let us know what was going on in his and his wife's world. And in this man I saw the joy of the Lord. His name is Joel Khopang and he has been a missionary all over Asia for the past 30+ years. His wife Marilyn grew up in a family full of missionaries, in fact her family has been on the mission field for more than 80 years. As Joel talked about everything that has been going on over the past few years with his ministry I was in awe of his passion, his stories, and his joy. Now, I am not talking about a superficial, fake type of joy, but I am talking about a genuine, real, and life-changing joy. Every word he spoke in his broken english was drenched in the love and grace of Jesus. Whether he was talking about trying to learn to use a microwave or having too many pieces of lasagna, or whether he was talking about refugees who were coming to hear the word of God or teenagers hungry for the word of God, there was just something about his joy. 

After the evening service Joel let us know that he needed a place to stay for the night, so Heather and I offered our home to them. When we all got to the house Joel and Marilyn were amazed by our DVR, they just didn't understand how you could rewind and fast forward live TV. As we sat all there watching the olympics I continued to see that joy, as they would root for every countries athletes to do well - that was until the Chinese gymnasts kept receiving scores that completely didn't deserve. But I remember Joel and Marilyn having their own little conversations in different languages, I remember them shooshing each other so they could hear what the commentators were saying about every little thing. But I also remember them sitting on my couch and praying for the American athletes to do well because they had worked so hard (I didn't have it in me to let them know that this was DVR'd and actually happened several minutes earlier). 

All in all when they left the next morning I was a little more thankful for my amazing wife, a little more thankful for my beautiful baby girl, and a little more thankful for the call that Jesus has put on my life. From now when I think about Joel Khopang, I promise what I will think is - I want that passion, that love, and yes - I want that joy.