Defining Happiness

Disclaimer - I don't believe in disclaimers, but in this post I am giving my observations and opinions. I am open to debate and comment, especially after you read the whole entry. I wrote this post this evening in my journal and thought it would be great for you two readers :-)

Oh what a sweet weekend topped off with a sweet day. Holiday extended weekends are flat out awesome. Being the 4th Sunday of the month, there is no class at church for our kids so our options are having them in the 4-5 yr. old room while we teach, or finding someone to teach for us and going to the service together. Today we were afforded the opportunity to attend the Forerunner Christian Fellowship (FCF) service as a family. This is extra special because we haven't been able to attend an FCF service since July.

As is the case with 99-100% of churches, the service began with worship led by Derek Loux. Derek did an excellent job. One great part of his leading is that his brother John Loux played electric guitar in the band. John looks happy when he plays. His head bobs, his foot taps, and his hips even shake. You can tell when John is in the groove of worship. He looks happy.

After the worship set, while the offering is being taken, there is what is known as a "special". The special consists of IHOP artists singing/playing a song while the buckets are being passed. Today was truly SPECIAL! Today's special was performed by Forerunner Music Academy. There was probably 100 choir members, an orchestra and the worship band. They performed a song by another IHOP worship leader, Justin Rizzo, "Glory Will Cover the Earth". They did an incredible job. The power of the song brought tears to my eyes.

Mike Bickle then took the stage and delivered a message on the 8 Beatitudes found in Matthew 5. The message was great. He challenged people to live a lifestyle chasing perfect obedience to the Beatitudes. One of the key points of the message was that living this way is the ONLY way to be truly happy. Even that statement sparks spiritual violence in the core of the soul. But is he right? Could it be that if we lived wholeheartedly pursuing this lifestyle that we would be happy?

After having only a few hours to ponder this, I was done with the evening chores and sat down to unwind with Sunday Night Football, however the game wasn't on yet. I came across 60 minutes and a story about a child prodigy composer. Not a child prodigy pianist, or painter, or something else...a composer. His professor at Julliard says to him, this is the rarest of prodigies because of the complexity of understanding a composer must have of music. This kid was amazing. At 2 years old he was drawing pictures of a chello before he even knew what one was and then when his mom took him to see a miniature version, he could play it! By 13 he had composed his 5th symphony, an accomplishment most composers only dream of. The 60 Minutes piece showed the boy with the London Symphony in the same studio that the Star Wars soundtrack and The Beattles albums were recorded in. Remember, this boy is 13!

The interviewer asked the boy what would make him happy. The boy responded non-chalantly, I don't know, there is no definition to happiness. I may not have the quote exact, I wish I did, but either way I was stunned by his empty response. This boy, prodigy or not, has a gift many people would give anything for, and he is on top of his game before life has really even gotten into full stride.

I remember as a boy, or even as a young man, singing lyrics to songs (look here for a quick interesting read on lyrics) with words like "gimme something to believe in". I admit freely I am no Bible scholar, but I am pursuing knowledge of God. A friend of mine once said that knowledge is the one thing you can take with you. Amazingly, this guy wasn't a "believer", yet he believed in some sort of life after death and somehow figured out that knowledge is what you get to keep in eternity.

I have come to the conclusion that it is as "simple" as this: My Bible, prayer and living a life that is wholly pleasing and acceptable to God. The pursuit of a lifestyle that strives to live out a Sermon On the Mount/Beattitude existence is NOT easy. What I do know is that by living this way, the "Pursuit of the Holy" and thus, being in God's will brings true and eternal happiness!