Sing For Joy

“Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return to Jerusalem, singing songs of everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be overcome with joy and gladness.”
Isaiah 51:11 (New Living Translation)

Sing For Joy

The irony. I’ve been playing a worship song in my car for the last week, and the beautiful refrain goes like this: “Sing for Joy, to God our strength!” The harmony on the refrain is quite close and reminds me so much of African songs, that I can hear it being sung by African voices in my head. Every time I play the song, I think of one of my new housemates: Joy.

Joy is one of four other students living in this room and board, all of whom go to bible college. Now, I’m not sure if there are some of you out there who have stereotypical ideas of how bible college students look and act –- I know I used to have stereotypical ideas in my head -- but Joy would break any of those in less than a minute of meeting her.

She stands about 5’1” tall and has a very tiny frame. Her hair is dyed and heavily highlighted and is left curly but in a very loose ponytail. Her Irish heritage has given her big blue almond-shaped eyes and a quirky, little smile that can quickly grow huge, especially if we are poking fun at one of the other roommates! Her style is often what I call “hippy grunge”. I don’t think I need to explain that further, do you? She sports a nose-ring as so many young adults do, and to top it all off, on her wrist is a tattoo – Hebrew words that when translated mean “Property of God”.

As far as personality goes, at the onset she might seem a bit rough around the edges – some say she has the gift of sarcasm. But sarcasm has a negativity associated with it that I think is missing in her – perhaps at times you could say she is sardonically humorous! But she also seems to me to be a mixture of pragmatism and . . . you guessed it . . . joy. She seems quite humble to me, with no airs about her, and seems to prefer sharing information, confessing, etc., in a straight-up fashion – no beating around the bush. At 24, she is five to seven years older than the other students, and the other students enjoy her immensely because she is still one of them, but more mature.

Joy’s brother died today. He was 37 years old. Apparently, last night, he went to a party and overdid the partying a bit. So, it is guessed he decided to sleep it off in his car, but the car was running and there was a leak somewhere that lead to his death by carbon monoxide poisoning.

My brother is 41 years old. He also recently decided to sleep it off in his car, but was fortunate enough that the car wasn’t running. He was briefly detained at a local police station, then released, though his friend’s car was impounded.

I have been waiting for the call that my brother has died since he was in his early twenties, yet Joy, who is 20 years younger than me, got the call first. I asked her if her brother knew the Lord – she wasn’t sure. But I’m thinking from the things she has told me and since they are PKs (pastor’s kids), and she said he wasn’t troubled or anything like that, that he did. He may not have been very obedient (I guess I can relate to that), but I’m guessing he knew the Lord.

My brother on the other hand does not know the Lord. He is anti-God, anti-religion, anti-spiritual – just one big “anti”. He is a very troubled individual, with alcoholism and depression being two of his major challenges in life. We all thought he really was on his last legs recently, but God has graced him with yet a little more time, another opportunity, etc., to get to know Him. Much to my astonishment. I should not be surprised, really. God is far more gracious and forgiving than I can even understand. I’ve had my brother in the grave for 20 years, but thankfully, God obviously has had different plans.

Tonight, just as the refrain of my newest favorite worship song says, I sing and pray for Joy to God our strength. Lord, I pray she and her family receive strength and peace from you about her brother’s passing. I pray that you take any part of Joy’s brother’s life that is tragic and turn it into something good. I pray that you use this experience in their lives in a greater way than we can imagine, that this does not just become a “fluke” incident in their lives, but that your impact is felt on the family and all the friends as well, through the upcoming weeks. I pray your protection for Joy as she travels to be with her family. And I thank you for the Joy that has come into my life and shown me just a little bit more of you and your amazing ability to affect the lives of so many different and vital people.

I also pray for my brother, Lord. I thank you for your grace in his life and I pray that you open his heart to receiving the forgiveness and grace he is seeking and needs desperately so that he is not a story of tragedy, but of victory.

Thank you, Lord.