Sky Falling

                                The Key of Submission

                      Into The Lock of a Joyful Attitude

   The caption on the front page of the Mobile Register read:  Church Carnage in Baton Rouge. The enraged husband, nostrils flared, one hand balled into a tight fist, the other welded around his weapon, mindless anger seething across his contorted brow in a hot sweat, entered The Ministry of Jesus Christ Church.  Compelled by insane passions, he'd made his plan hours before that somebody was going to die.

   When the carnage was finished, Anthony had done just that; he killed his estranged wife's grandparents, her great-aunt, a cousin, and his wife.  It was all done so efficiently, so methodically.  Just the way he had planned.  Even Anthony was surprised that he had actually carried it out.

   And what about those he killed?  Did they wake up Sunday morning with a dread of doom?  Did they know that only hours were left in this earthly life?  Of course not, they saw the morning sun rise to a new day, a day they expected to greet with arms wide open.  How could they have known that this day held such horror?  That this was their rogue day?

   Rogue days are devastating, rising up out of nowhere.  They come without warning.  And there you are in the bone-crushing, heart-wrenching aftermath.  You are left dazed and bewildered, shocked to the core of your soul, and numbed to the center of your being.  Those in church did not even see it coming.  Family and friends are left with broken peieces and the challenge to make some sense of it all.

   Most people survivie after long periods of dark anguish, but as expected, many do not.  The emotional and spiritual suffering is too overwhelming.  And somewhere in the midst of so great a trial, we are reminded just how fragile life really is.

   For believers, there is help when a rogue day comes crashing over the tranquility of life.  The first thing you must do is count (not to 10), but learn to count the imprtance of keeping a joyful spirit.  I know how this must sound; that is, keeping joy when your heart is broken and life has lost its savor.  If there is any virtue in "keeping joy" in the midst of physical, emotional, or spiritual devastation, it is this:  The injunction to stay joyful in joyless circumstances comes only from the Bible, God's Word.  There is ultimate authority behind this idea of using "joy" to lance the boil of rogue-day pain because God's truth is empowerment to man in his traumas of life.  Indeed, we are told in the book of Nehemiah, "Neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength."