The Devotional – 1409 – “Joy” always a Good Subject

The Devotional – 1409 – “Joy” always a Good Subject

Proverbs 15:13 – A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

 

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Many years ago one of the submarines I was stationed on was home ported in Rota, Spain. The submarine was the USS Kamehameha (SSBN 642). Those days are long since passed away, but the memories, awe yes the memories… those too are shot full of holes, so why then am I trying to reconstruct one or two of the moments? I know only about myself when it comes to memory and that is the way it should be unless we are bent on being nosy. Yet if we are bent in that direction, what we think we know is usually mixed with judgments based on our own experience; in other words whatever I judge about someone is also true of me, Romans 2:1.

One of my very first trips to Rota around 1963 was not on a submarine, but a destroyer; the USS Forrest Sherman (DD-931). After mooring to the pier we were immediately restricted to the ship. No one was allowed outside and no one was allowed to look through the portholes to the pier side of the ship. Across the pier on the other side was moored a Spanish Aircraft Carrier. The reason we could not go outside or look out the portholes was because the aircraft carrier personnel were conducting a “Hanging”. The sailor hanged was guilty of being a thief.

On one of my trips to Rota around 1976 to board the Kamehameha we were warned about going ashore in that we were required to return to the ship by 2200 hours (10pm) and not the normal time of midnight. The police, equivalent to our state troopers had raided a gypsy camp outside of Rota and kill all of the people in the camp because it was believed that these people were responsible for some thieving going on in Rota. True or false I do not know, but I did hear that the thieving continued.

Spain in those days was ruled by a dictator, his oppressive style of leadership caused an entire national collapse of joy in the land. People had little freedom, no happiness and joy was not available to anyone except those who were saved by the grace of God and of the so called gypsy camps; these were compounds of Christian believers.

Okay, why am I telling you these horrible moments in times past? In almost every visit to Rota which is more than these two, life for me there was pleasant and peaceful. When I was off duty I stayed at a Christian compound called “Victory Villa” if you go on google and type those words in you will see that the place is still active and has a very nice history. In this compound there was much “joy” sailors and other military people from the surrounding area would come together and we did sing, reminding me of Ephesians 5:15-21.

One of the churches we went to, was a converted bar room where one of the marines used to hang out in his early days in Rota. Yet when he was saved and after he retired he returned to Rota, bought the bar and converted it into a church. Military and Spanish families from all over Rota came there. I had some great fellowship both at the Villa and at the Church. Both Spanish and American people expressing “JOY” in the LORD.

As we as a nation move forward in time and space, we may see the countenance of our citizen’s fall. We do not need to go into the “why”? I am sure you know the answer, but this is what we do need to know. In the midst of all oppression and suppression there is hope and there is peace. These pockets of “joy” will be found in compounds where Jesus Christ is LORD and where families can come together; maybe not in a converted bar room, but it will be in a place where the Spirit of God can speak in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual songs as the saints of God are found singing and making melody in their hearts to the LORD.

I miss those days in Spain, but not for long… I believe that the United States of America will face similar days in the not too distant future. Do I fret over this? NO in fact I encourage the LORD to bring it on.