I can’t imagine how it could get any better at a boat race then seeing your daughters on the dock cheering for you!  What a thrill it must have been for the blessed dad who left the beach to this sight, or perhaps returned to the ramp to see it.

The races offer boundless opportunities to have fun and enjoyment.  The racers that win or race well are no doubt happy about the performance of their boat, their ability to time the start just perfectly, or perhaps just their sheer luck.  Even if we don’t finish first, most of us are happy just to be there and enjoy the event and swap stories with each other at the end of the day.  At the end of the race weekend, we are usually glad to head home, but still there is a part of us that wants to stay and continue the race experience.  At the recent Hinton, West Virginia race, announcer Ryan Runne said something like “After Sunday we will all have to return to just being normal people again.”  I found it very humorous, but more than that it conveyed a feeling that most of us probably connect with.

The feeling of happiness that usually prevails on race weekends is great, but it is fleeting and doesn’t sustain us for the long haul.  Ryan was dead-on, on Monday we’re back to being normal people.

God has something much greater in mind for us than temporary happiness.  He desires for our lives to be filled with joy.  Some may think that joy and happiness are the same thing, and often use the two words interchangeably.  But they are not the same.  I checked my Bible concordance and found that throughout the entire Bible, the word happiness is found 24 times in its various forms.  But the word joy (and its derivatives) is found 218 times.  I don’t believe this is an accident.  I believe that God desires for us to pursue joy more than happiness.  I also believe it is because he knows that true and lasting joy can be found only by abiding in him and striving to live according to his will and purpose for our lives.

So be encouraged by the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 15:13:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

See you at the ramp!