Carrying Burdens Lightly

Even though Jesus's burden was the sin and salvation of the whole world, He said "my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  We have a lot of heavy responsibilities in today's chaotic world, but we need to be able to carry them lightly.  (Much easier said than done.)

One aspect of carrying burdens lightly is the ability to find humor in the midst of difficulty.  In a painful, embarrassing, or stressful situation, I have always said, "you can laugh or you can cry," - meaning that you will do one or the other.  But I just realized that there is a third alternative...  You can bring an AK47 to work for show and tell and let everyone know how you really feel!

A Measure of Friendship

I just read Shut Up and Eat Your Snowshoes! by Jack Douglas.  Jack Douglas was a comedy writer who wrote for many TV shows and comedians from the 40's to the 70's.  He counted hundreds of those people as his friends.  At the point in his life covered in this book, he chose to move from Connecticut with his wife, son, 5 wolves, a cougar, and 2 dogs to Northern Ontario.  He bought a hunting lodge 116 miles from the nearest town.

It was 25 miles just to the nearest road.  Imagine going to buy groceries every other week!  His wife had a baby in -25 degree weather in a tent in a blizzard!  But that wasn't what impressed me the most.

What impressed me the most about this story was the New Year's party shortly after the baby was born.  The guests would have to make their own individual arrangements to fly to the little town in northern Canada in the midst of winter where they would all meet and be driven a hundred miles in a school bus to meet the Douglas snow tractor and ride the lumber sledge to the hunting lodge.  All of this for a party and an overnight stay of only one night.

They weren't sure anyone would come, but they all did.  Here is a partial guest list:  Jack, Randy, and Miriam Paar;  Merv and Julann Griffin;  Johnny and Joanne Carson;  Dean Martin;  Julie Newmar;  Diahann Carroll;  Barbara Eden and her husband;  Joey Bishop; Tony Randall; and several other less well known couples.

The copy I have is autographed To Jack, Miriam, and Randy Paar -- with much love, Jack Douglas.  So this was Jack Paar's personal copy.  I value it highly as a collectable, a story of appreciation of life and the wonders of God's creation,  an ability to find joy and humor in the midst of what most people would consider unbearable and unacceptable hardship, and most of all -- a statement of the value of a man's life measured by the number and quality of his friends.

Don't Cry Anymore

   Most Christians understand (intellectually, at least) that there is a distinction between happiness and joy.  Joy is somehow a spiritual characteristic and happiness is carnal.
   The Cathedral Quartet put it most dramatically in the song Romans 8:28:
       Now Satan can rob me of my happiness
       But he can't take away my joy
   But most people would be hard pressed to give a clear example of the distinction.
   In 1992, I was driving through a run-down neighborhood.  I passed a little girl who was sitting on the curb with her head in her hands.  This song immediately came to me:

Don't Cry Anymore

       Don't Cry Anymore,
       Everything will be all right.
       Jesus loves you,
       And He wants you to know,
       That you're special to HIm.

       So dry your tears,
       And give your fears to Him.
       __ ___ ____ ___
       And let the healing begin.


   The song came to me as fast as I could write it down -- with the exception of the one missing line.  What was missing?  What else do we have to do to enable God's healing?  I could not come up with an answer.
   About a week or two weeks later, I was almost killed in a car wreck.  I was in the hospital for 21 days.  I was in a lot of pain most of that time and there had been a significant possibility that I might lose a leg.  My personal foundational scripture has always been Romans 8:28, "All things work together for good to them that love the Lord and are called according to His purposes."  Naturally, I was asking fervently, "WHY HAS THIS HAPPENED TO ME?" and "How does THIS work to my good?"
   Immediately - when I asked, "Why..." - the missing line in the song came to me:
       "Release your JOY
       "And let the healing begin!"
   The physical healing process took over a year.  But as far as I was concerned, I was spiritually healed immediately.  I have rarely felt as close to God as I did during those 21 days.  I was certainly NOT happy.  But I was never without joy.
   The Apostle Paul wrote letters to many of the churches while he was in prison in Rome. On several occasions he attempted to convey the dramatic distinction between happiness and joy.
   He was so excited by the joy of his relationship with God that forgot where he was and said, "I wish everybody could be just like I am."  [dramatic pause...]  "Oh... Except for these leg irons and this prison cell."
   I could honestly say, "I wish everyone could be just like me."  "Oh... Except for the crushed leg and all the pain and stuff..."
   The dramatic point that the Lord was trying to make was that joy comes first!  Our natural assumption is that the joy comes because of the healing.  But, that's not joy - that's happiness.  Joy comes straight from the Lord, regardless of the situation.  What God was saying was that Joy has to ALREADY BE THERE for healing to take place!

     Don't Cry Anymore,
     Everything will be all right.
     Jesus loves you,
     And He wants you to know,
     That you're special to HIm.

     So dry your tears,
     And give your fears to Him.
     RELEASE YOUR JOY!
     And let the healing begin.


     Don't Cry Anymore,
     Everything will be all right.
     Jesus loves you,
     And He wants you to know,
     That you're precious to HIm.