Exuberant Joy

I had a forty-five minute drive.
I was enjoying the pretty day and the warm weather.
After a winter of snow, ice, and cold temperatures, the springlike weather was welcome.
My music was playing and I was singing along, tapping on the steering wheel at times.

I could see the stretch of road up ahead.
There is always a lot of traffic at this particular intersection.
Often when I come to this intersection, I turn right and go to visit my favorite Gardens.
This day I was going straight, since I had other things to do.

The traffic was quite congested.
Drivers had their windows down.
I could hear their music.
I could hear the talk radio.

All the sounds blended together and became background noise.
I had chosen my music and was enjoying it.
Music somehow makes even congested traffic much better.
I really did not mind being stuck in this traffic for a short time.

I caught sight of movement in my peripheral vision.
I turned my head.
I could not believe what I was seeing.
I witnessed an amazing show and had front row seats.

Standing on the corner was a tall, young man.
He was holding a long sign in the shape of an arrow in his arms.
The sign was at long as a surfboard.
It was in front of him when I first looked in his direction.

The sign said, Leasing now.
Apparently, this young man was a live advertisement for the new apartment building.
He was taking advantage of the stopped traffic.
He was informing the public of the housing availability behind him.

I must have sat through at least six red lights before the traffic moved.
I truly did not mind.
Nothing could have been better than what I saw.
This young man was a marvel.

He took that long sign in the shape of an arrow and tossed it overhead like a baton.
He took the point of the arrow and spun it on his index finger high above his head.
He flipped the sign this way and that: above him, below him, and behind him.
I expected him to drop the long sign but he never did.

He kept doing more and more tricks with the arrow sign that said, Leasing now.
If the drivers were not intrigued by the message, they were intrigued by the messenger.
I know that my mouth was open in wonder.
I understood the expression about having to pick your jaw up off the floor.

I noticed that he had earphones in his ears.
He danced and spun the arrow sign to the beat of whatever music he was hearing.
Every eye was on him.
Every face that I could see was smiling.

I was so grateful to the young man for such pure entertainment.
I thought of what the Harlem Globetrotters do with a basketball.
This young man was doing the same thing with a sign as long as a surfboard.
Whoever hired him to advertise the new apartment building knew what they were doing.

I wanted to wave to him.
I wanted to thank him and yell out the window, You’re amazing.
However I was on the other side of a four lane highway.
He would never have heard me.

The traffic began to move.
What could have been boring was sheer delight.
As I drove away, all I could think of were two words.
Exuberant joy!

Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”  The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. (Psalm 126:2,3)

Can you imagine if our joy was that contagious?
Can you imagine if the mere sound of the Word of God in our ears caused us to rejoice?
Can you imagine if we consistently pondered all that God has done for us?
Can you imagine that pondering leading to exuberant joy?

The world needs to see us dance.
The world needs to see us worship with abandon.
The world needs to see the difference our salvation makes in our lives.
The world needs to see a difference.

I thought of a quote that I read by Francis Chan as I watched the man with the arrow sign.
Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.
This man on the corner made no sense to those of us stuck in our cars.
Who acts this way on a street corner and with a long sign no less?

Someone who does not care what anyone else thinks.
Someone who has a job to do.
Someone who brings their own uniqueness to the task at hand.
Someone with exuberant joy.

We have a job to do: Go and make disciples.
We must bring our own uniqueness to the task at hand.
We must not worry what people think of our method.
We must live our lives before others with exuberant joy.

Our lives should not make sense to those who do not know the Lord.
We should seem a bit strange when we are at peace in the midst of turmoil.
We should seem different when we love even when it is hard.
We should seem a bit odd when joy is what defines us.

How can we not have exuberant joy?
How can we forget what God has done for us through Jesus.
How can we not be joyful because of our salvation?
How can we act like everyone else when we have been forgiven so much?

I am grateful to the sign spinner.
He reminded me of the joy that is always there but gets a bit cloudy at times.
He reminded me of the exuberant joy the world needs to see.
If we are in Christ, the world needs to see that exuberant joy in us.

The world may not understand it.
However, if our joy intrigues them, they will ask about it.
Then we are to give them a reason for the hope that we have. (1 Peter 3:15)
We are to give them a reason for our exuberant joy.