Makers of a Legend

This past Saturday was Nebraska's 300th consecutive sellout. I planned on taking Mate' to this special game for his first Husker experience. I was looking forward to our trip and seeing my first game this year in person. Then a couple weeks ago I realized Caleb had scheduled his first gig- his band's very first show- on this very same evening. And to seal the deal, Mate' was playing drums for this new group called 'Makers of a Legend'.

So as I loaded drums and amps into our van for the trip to Sokol Underground I couldn't help but be a little disappointed that I was missing a fun game on a perfect evening. Twenty minutes later we arrived at Sokol Underground which sits below Sokol Hall on 13th and Martha. The place looked a little rough, a bit like the surrounding neighborhood. At 5:30 we hauled in all the band's equipment and waited for the 6:30 PM show to begin. A number of bands and singers were scheduled to perform and 'Makers of a Legend' were to go on at 7:50 PM.

I snuck out to find a place to watch a few minutes of the Husker game prior to Cale going on-stage.Luckily the bar next door had the pay-per-view game on so I could watch. I saw almost all of the first half which left me confident of a Husker win and wanting to watch more- but I had to get back to the show.

When I arrived, Caleb and the guys were doing sound checks and getting ready to play. When the house lights went down, the stage lights shown bright, almost 100 kids pressed towards the stage and 'Makers of a Legend' were ready to rock. It was to be an evening I will never forget.

It's hard to describe how you feel when you see your child doing something they love and do it well. I've had the pleasure of seeing this with each of my boys- Tim with football, Jake with basketball, Dan with golf, and now Cale with guitar. On this night Cale played lead guitar and played so well including a couple solos. The band played every song they knew, all four of them! The crowd cheered after every song, shouting for an encore at the end. The band soaked up the praise and Sherri and I beamed with pride.

As I thought about the evening I thought of the difference between a Husker game and a 'Makers of a Legend' concert. That Husker games make me happy when they win- and irritated (read Virginia Tech) when they lose. I decided that this kind happiness depends on what happens, on 'happeness'.

But what I felt at the concert was more 'joy'- something that touched the deepest part of me. I think there is a big difference between joy and 'happeness'. My joy on this evening wasn't based on what happened, it was based on loving my child first and then seeing him doing something he loves. The band did their best; they are learning to do better. The evening wasn't about how good or bad they were, it was about young men learning to step out in front of a crowd and do what they love.

In the Bible 'joy' is used to describe something greater than happiness. Words like exceedingly glad, exultant gladness are used to describe joy. I think it's nice to have a little earthly happiness (Husker wins) and joy (children doing well) to go with our God-given joy which Jesus himself told us about in John 15 'that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete'. In short we are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy as the result of our faith and salvation (1Peter 1:8-9). Faith makes joy a verb, not just something we have but something we do - a way of living, a 'live-style' if you will. My own life verses 1Thessolonians 5:16-18 describes joy like this as well calling us to 'Be joyful always'. Our joy is to be unaffected by 'happeness' because we have an eternal gift thanks to what Jesus did for us on the cross.

I guess you could say that it turns out that this life is to be a joy-ride, a time before eternity where we live a life of joy thanks to our God who loves us beyond our understanding. That's what our God-given faith reminds us of- the joyful hope we have in Jesus. And while we live this joyful life, it's great to share some earthly joy and even 'happeness' as we love those around us and watch them rock on! See you fellow joyful folks this Sunday at Club Atonement!

Joyfully Yours!
kp