How many times have you said or heard someone else say that 'I want to happy.'

Here are my thoughts on searching for happiness.

We are sold a bill of goods in this country that happiness is a 'right.' Well, that is a crock. No one has a right to be happy - even if the Bill of Rights says it.

Here is the problem: happiness is based on happenings. So if good things happen I am happy. This means that my happiness is totally dependent on external circumstances. I am making other people or the situation around me responsible for my happiness.

From a follower of Jesus perspective, I can tell you that the Bible never talks about being happy - it does talk about being filled with joy. I think joy is a much deeper quality than happiness. Joy is about a depth of peace, love, kindness, self-control that is much deeper about the temporary kick I get because some thing good happened to me. In fact, sometimes joy comes because I do something kind for someone else.

I learned something the other day. I learned that calm is really the state we all seek. The tricky thing about calm is that you don't really know you have it. Calm is like your cheek. When do you recognize your cheek? When you bite on it or there is a painful zit on it. Otherwise your cheek is just there - being calm. That is really the state most of us want to live in. For people who were raised in chaotic homes or who have lived chaotic lives (often people caught in addictive or violent lifestyles) the idea of calm is boring. But actually calm is good. It is normal. So you might ask yourself - am I looking for calm or am I looking for something to make me happy.

So the first secret to finding happiness is to live in calm. To relish the peace and quiet of the soul. I think this what the writer of the Psalms meant when he said that God told him, "Be still and know that I am God."

The second secret of finding happiness is to realize that it isn't really happiness you and I seek, it is joy. And joy comes from deep inside of myself. So today, take sometime to think about what joy might look like for you.

May you find the happiness, I mean... the joy, you seek.

Honor - definition: 'to hold in high respect'.

We usually think of giving honor to a person who accomplishes a noteworthy achievement or does a heroic act. Since 9/11/01 many of us have come to appreciate and honor the service of first responders (police officers and firemen) in our society. In our society you get honor if you do something special.

Did you know that you don't have to do anything special to receive honor?

You just have to be yourself!

You just have to show up! God honors you just because you are you!

God made you, put you on the earth and he is honored to call you his child. He says that your existence proves his existence! You are the image of God in the world. What a self-esteem booster that thought is!

So I say - Honor yourself today by loving yourself - the self God made! Like Ethel Waters used say, "God don't make junk!" Remember - paying honor means 'giving respect to' - to respect yourself.

Treat yourself with respect! Eat healthy food. Get enough sleep. Let go of old resentments. Let go of anger. Listen to uplifting music. Read inspiring literature. Go for a walk. Spend time with a friend.

Now here is the catch - after you've honored yourself for being around, honor someone else for just being! Other people don't have to do anything special to receive honor - they just have to be! They are children of God. They are like you - so respect them.

In fact, respect them even more than you respect yourself!

I remember being at a conference years ago and the speaker told us to look into the face of the person next to us. So I did this. Then we were supposed to say something to this person. I still remember telling the young lady next to me, "You have the most beautiful blue eyes." She began to cry! Apparently no one had ever said this to her. I had just paid her great honor.

So today - practice this habit of the church - Honor one another above yourselves.

Yesterday I had the occasion to listen to Rev. 'Buzz' Stevens, retired pastor of First United Methodist Church - Phoenix.

Buzz is a delightful man who takes following Jesus seriously. Buzz grew up in a non-religious home and became a follower of Jesus as an adult. Having had this experience, Buzz has a slightly different approach to life and ministry than those of us who 'grew up in the faith.'

Buzz has a theory of ministry that talks about deep single episode encounters with people. Think about this, he says, 'Jesus seldom had few long term relationships with people - he met them one time - went deep - and left.'

(My counter-point would be - his three year relationship with 12 men and some of their family members.)

I think, however, that Buzz is onto something here. How often do we take those one time experiences and utilize them for going deep. For encountering folks one time, listening, caring, even challenging and then departing.

What I learned from Buzz is that God is frequently putting us with people with whom we only get one chance to go deep into their hearts and lives.

This is not 'hit and run' ministry. When I experience 'hit and run' ministry it is usually about me or about the person who is doing 'hit and run' ministry, it isn't about genuine encounters which touch the soul. You know when you have these moments with people because they strike you as profoundly holy and sacred. I know when I have them I am often left shaken and touched to the core of my being.

Today you might have an encounter with a Zacchaeus, a women at the well, a woman who people want to stone, a rich young ruler.

How is it with you, friend?

Are you running deep with Jesus?

What part about running deep with Jesus strikes fear into your heart?

What will it take you for you to be ready to have a meeting that runs deep today?

WHAT WOULD the CHURCH DO with JESUS TODAY
- by Ian Hall.

What would the modern church do to Jesus if He were on the
earth today?:

- They would tell Him to say a little prayer.
- They would invite Him to their church.
- They would tell Him to give ten percent of his money to the
church, and rebuke Him for giving it (and more) to the poor.
- They would give Him self-help books to heal his "inner hurt."
- They would tell Him that He needed to get rich in order to prove he had
the blessing of God.
- They would tell Him that apostles and prophets don't exist
anymore, and that most of the spiritual gifts aren't for today.
BUT being a Church greeter is a "spiritual gift."
- They would tell Him to go to seminary school to "perfect" his
preaching gift.
- They would tell Him, with their actions, that it is OK to sin, as
long as you either, (a) Hide it well enough, or (b) Use Scripture
to justify it.
- They would tell Him to stop playing with the children during the
sermon.
- They would tell Him to stop preaching repentance, because
people don't like it.
- They would tell Him to preach messages with a "warm, upbeat"
message that make people feel good, so that more people
would come to His church and that He could pay His bills for
His church building.
- They would rebuke Him for saying that the church is people, and
not a building.
- They would tell Him to stop hanging out with 'sinners.'
- They would rebuke Him for making "communion" a meal.
- They would rebuke Him for calling several people in church
authority "hypocrites."
- They would tell Him to stop healing people, because that isn't for
today.
- They would kick Him out of the church for knocking down the
pews and pulpits.
- They would gossip about Him, and say that He was starting a "cult."

One of the reasons many people never return to the brick building on the corner called a church is that they don't feel welcomed.

One Sunday June and I decided to visit a large church here in Phoenix. We walked into the foyer of the church. We stood around - no one greeted us. Finally we walked into the sanctuary. No one greeted us there either. We sat through the service. We got up and walked out and no one greeted us. (I actually wanted to stand around a bit longer to see if anyone would actually come and greet us - but June had enough rejection.)

As you might be aware our experience is not abnormal in many churches in America. Many people report similar experiences in churches across our nation.

How contrary this is to the welcome Jesus gave to people who came into his presence! Jesus actually demonstrated the greatest welcome to those who society kicked to the curb. Women were certainly rejected in Jewish culture of Jesus' day - yet he welcomed them! The poor, the leper, the ill, the half-breeds from Samaria, the prostitutes, the hated tax-collectors - all were welcomed into the presence of Jesus!

Followers of Jesus practice the habit of holding their arms open to all those around them, especially to those society folds their arms to and walk away from.