Good times with Joakim

Monday September 21, 2009
There are times when we are allowed to experience sweet moments here on Earth, we revel in the presence of God’s Spirit living through people and those people seem to infect all of those around them. I observed a beautiful thing while in Sweden, as we rode a tram filled with people that are commonly known to be lonely in a city jammed with people. But first I must set the scene. First of all, we spent time with Joakim while in Sweden. We met him in 2006 as our Kenya team met with teams from all over the US in Amsterdam. I can’t remember if we knew in advance that there would be one Swede joining us but suddenly this tall, blonde haired, super smiley guy approached us. I don’t recall much else but I do remember that he made an entrance. Not in a loud and obnoxious way, but he captured your curiosity, he was genuinely happy, overjoyed even and in a way that wasn’t common and really forced those around him to sit and stare, it is as if somehow you knew that something either great or absolutely hilarious was about to happen. Our time in Kenya proved to be filled with some pretty hilarious moments with this character; between moments of cultural differences (dropping your pants in mixed company) and hiccups in the English-Swahili-Swedish translations.
Now back to the tram. It actually occurred as we waited for the tram. We sat waiting on a bench, on our way from church to run errands. This little boy with his mom and small baby in a carriage waited near us. The little boy was about 4 or 5 and he played with a plastic strap turned sword. Like your typical boy there were lots of sound effects and usually his sword was severing something or destroying anything in sight. He looked at Joakim and gave him a pretty nasty stare, then he took his “sword” and cut Joakim’s arm off, well in his imagination he did anyway. Now, you all know I love kids, but I don’t necessarily like kids that go around stabbing people with imaginary swords, perhaps it’s the years of education setting, “no real or fake guns” that has trained me to frown upon such things but I would’ve probably frowned a very international frown, communicating my disgust with such behavior and the kid would’ve gone away-end of story. Well, not Joakim, he quickly joined in and grabbed his arm as if the child had really severed it; he grabbed his own “sword” and began playing with this kid. The child smiled and giggled and was having a great time. We all eventually got on the same tram and it continued. The tram was filled with people and we stood next to a couple of young guys, who I quickly generalized as “tough guys” the kind that don’t like interacting with strangers and are just getting from one place to another. Seriously guys, within minutes Joakim and this little boy were making people on the tram smile and giggle, and the guys who I quickly judged were joining in. It was an amazing sight and it was great just being an observer, I watched as a young teenage boy try hard not to enjoy the moment, succumbing to infectious joy on the tram in moments. Guys, it was awesome. What a beautiful difference uncommonly joyful people make on the world.
The bible says that people should know we are Christians by our love. What a challenge that is. I am afraid that often I get so caught up in my schedule and I get stuck on what I believe to be right and wrong that I fail miserably to live up to this call. We had a great few days with Joakim. Had a great, very long conversation with Jackie, a woman we met on one of the islands and later had dinner with. We rode trams and buses and boats all over town. Had great conversations, and decided we could solve the problems of the world in 3 days.  Thank you Joakim for being obedient to God’s call in your life, you are truly a blessing to be around and have a contagious joyful spirit, keep transforming those around you. Thank you God for creating a spirit of joy in each of us, help us to find the unique and beautiful in what you have created, to get past our temptation to judge and choose love instead.

By the way, a hilarious thing just happened: We got on another train, on our way to Frankfurt. The guy with the push cart passed us, asking everyone, in Swedish, if they would like something (I imagine). He asked us, and I responded with a polite “no thank you”…are you ready for this? He responds in his best Austrian/American/ Swedish accent “I’ll be back”-Holy cow guys I lost it, I think if he passes by again I might ask if he will do it again, this time we will catch it on film. He said he loves Arnold. Craig called him the Governator-pretty hilarious stuff.