26 September 2005

The Difference Between Happiness and Joy

Happiness. To many, this is what life is all about. Many acquantances and friends have told me that they walked away from God because they weren't happy and now they are. So many people have told me that living for themselves makes them happy, and that is why they do it. It makes them happy to escape from their problems. However, I have news for these people. Happiness is fleeting. Nobody will always be happy. It is impossible. I've heard it put that "happiness happens".

There is something else out there though. Joy. Joy, unlike happiness, is eternal. Will you always be in a good mood? No. Will you always have it easy? No, but you won't be with happiness either. Where joy and happiness go seperate ways is that when the going gets tough, it is joy that helps you get through it.

During hard times, those who are searching after happiness flee their problems, through anymeans necessary. Those who have joy in their lives overcome their problems, and though they may occasionally stumble, they overcome with flying colors.

Rock on.

05 September 2005

Lessons Learned While Rocking Out at the Light

Saturday (9/3/05), I had the opportunity to attend an awesome concert. The strange thing about it is that despite the fact that it was the weekend, I actually learned some things.

I learned that people often make the mistake that Christian rock is not as heavy as secular rock. This is simply not true. One of my friends was working at a concession stand at the concert. I went up to buy some lunch and started talking about an awesome mosh pit I had been in. He kinda stared and said, "At Rock the Light?" His tone said, "At a Christian concert?" It seems that people still have Christian music set as a guy with a guitar singing praise songs and hymns. However, Christian rock concerts have mosh pits. I will let some of my readers (I very much doubt that I have many) pick their jaws up off of the floor. I have been told that Christian rock gets no respect because it has no musical merit and that it cannot possibly be heavy. Christian rock is still rock. It is very heavy, very energetic, and verily, verily, I say unto thee, it is very good. And the cool thing about it is that the heaviness comes straight from God. For interested in checking out some artists, you don't have to go very far. UnderOath, Relient K, Norma Jean, Blindside, MxPx, Emery, and Mae are all readily available and run the gammit from skater punk to indie to metal.

Another lesson is how little some people care for others. There was a striking contrast between the people who would actually stop dead in the middle of a mosh pit to help someone up and the people who would yell, "Get on with the show!" when a rep from World Vision was on stage pooring her heart out about the devastation of AIDS in Africa. What is even more shocking is that those yelling at the rep were the often the ones who would scream, "I love Jesus!" when prompted to do so. The "modern" Christian: faithful when it's fun (aka when a musician was on stage singing), not when it actually requirers something, such as doing "unto the least of these". Gee, I wonder who told us to do that.

Rock on.