Fifteen Miles South of Happy

Mark 6:34-44 New King James Version

It is an honor to be with you today.

You’ve got a great president in Dr. Gannon. During the pandemic, Dr. Gannon and I became acquainted through a weekly Zoom meeting with pastors around the state and read and discussed a book together. I think this may be the first time that we have met in person.

Speaking of relationships formed during the pandemic. We had a couple named Joel and Coral begin to attend our church during the pandemic. My wife and I wanted to get to know them, so I fired off email inviting them to dinner. Here’s the email conversation:

On Tuesday, November 17, 2020, 9:27 AM, Gary Floyd <[e-mail]> wrote:

Joel & Coral:

Julie and I would love to take Coral and you to dinner.

Would you be available Thursday, November 19, or Monday, November 23, 2020? Possible 6:00 pm?

Thanks,

On Tue, Nov 17, 2020 at 3:34 PM joel cornelius <[e-mail]> wrote:

Hello Pastor Gary

I am not sure if this has come as a mistake? My wife is Sharon. We do pastor the church in Tuba City. Currently we are under strict stay at home orders and a 20 day lock down. We are not to leave the reservation. Please keep us in prayer at this time. Perhaps when the order lifts we would be available for some type of get together in PHX or Flagstaff

God bless

Joel Cornelius

Pastor Joel:

I am sorry; the email was intended for someone else but if you’re ever in Yuma, I’d be glad to buy you dinner.

We will be praying for you and your church.

Our church has support Dr Joseph Saggio for years with his work here at AIC.

We believe in you and what God is doing at AIC!

In fact, a group of ___ people from our church left Yuma at 6 am this morning to be here with you today.

Here’s a few things you should know about me:

· I grew up in Illinois, north of Chicago.

· I graduated from The Master’s Commission which was based at Phoenix First Assembly, now Dream City Church.

· I have served as a youth pastor and lead pastor primarily in New Mexico prior to moving four years ago to Yuma to serve as the lead pastor of Foothills Assembly of God.

· I am married to my wife Julie and have four children: Rylie, Ryder, Raya and Rayden.

Before we go any further, I do have a confession to make.

I’ve done some time in Texas; I’ve served some hard time in Texas.

Not because I was incarcerated but because I was unhappy.

Early in my marriage and ministry, I served as the pastor of a church in a small town in West Texas.

There wasn’t much in that town. In fact, to do any real shopping, dining, or entertainment, we would have to drive an hour to Amarillo.

On the way to Amarillo from the town in which we lived, there was another town: Happy, Texas.

When we got on the interstate to drive to Amarillo, there was a sign that read “Happy 15 Miles.”

Every time that I drove past that sign, I thought it really summed up my life – I was living 15 miles south of Happy.

I had never been to Happy. I thought I knew where is was and I thought I knew how to get there.

I thought that if I was a different person, I’d be happy.

I thought that if I was in a different place, I’d be happy.

I thought that if I had some different thing – or at least some more things, I’d be happy.

I’ve spent a lot of my life living 15 miles south of happy.

Maybe you are like me and at times have felt like you were living 15 miles south of happy.

I know the disciples felt this way.

Mark 6:34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.

Mark 6:35 When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, “This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late.

Mark 6:36 Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat.”

Mark 6:37 But He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?”

Mark 6:38 But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”

Mark 6:39 Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass.

Mark 6:40 So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties.

Mark 6:41 And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all.

Mark 6:42 So they all ate and were filled.

Mark 6:43 And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish.

Mark 6:44 Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men.

Mark 6:35 When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, “This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late.

Deserted place - ‘desert, wilderness, lonely place.’[1]

This isn’t the right place, we’re not the right people, we don’t have the right stuff.

1. If only I were someone different (1 Corinthians 7:17-19)

a. 1 Corinthians 7:17 But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches.

b. 1 Corinthians 7:18 Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.

c. 1 Corinthians 7:19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.

2. If only I was somewhere different (1 Corinthians 7:20-22)

a. 1 Corinthians 7:20 Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.

b. 1 Corinthians 7:21 Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it.

c. 1 Corinthians 7:22 For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave.

3. If only I was with someone or with someone different (1 Corinthians 7:26-28)

a. 1 Corinthians 7:26 I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress—that it is good for a man to remain as he is:

b. 1 Corinthians 7:27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

c. 1 Corinthians 7:28 But even if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such will have trouble in the flesh, but I would spare you.

Mark 6:39 Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass.

[1] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 16.