Joshua 2:1-18, 6:21-25

 We have been thinking about Stumbling Into Happiness. The author is Daniel Gilbert and he explains that we are always giving other people gifts that don’t make them happy. And we are always making choices ourselves that don’t work out as we want and we end up with less happiness than we want. I worked on this message at my home and looked around the room. Two weights that I rarely use and had to carry home from Northern and 48^th, a book on City Walks that I have never read, some CDs that weren’t as good as I imagined when I picked them up, a laundry tub for chlorox that doesn’t seem to get my whites any whiter, a fancy calculator that I can’t figure out how to use. And the list goes on. I actually noticed that the things that I'm most satisfied with are the ones that are the simplest – a hair dryer that was cheap and only dries hair, cheap clock with a good alarm a bean bag ottoman that is so handy and comfortable.

 We have talked for the last three weeks about positive steps that you can take to make yourself happier. I’m not talking about speculation, I'm talking about real steps that are indicated in the Bible to create more happiness in your life. They aren’t hard to do, but they take some will power and some determination that you are going to be satisfied any longer with life as you know it. We spoke about eating more wisely and exercising and God’s concern for the human body. We talked about making sure you have some friends or spouse and how to treat them. God designed us to be in fellowship with others. Two Sundays ago, we talked about giving. We were designed to give because God is a God who gives.

 Do any or all of these Biblical practices and you will find improvement in your happiness over the next year. Today I want to share one more, since I’m actually doing it myself. The happiness of a Faith Step.

 I'm in Guatemala this morning. On December 28, 2002, I took my faith step. That summer a guy from Argentina came to the church one evening. His face was flushed and he was obviously ill. Usually, I don’t respond to stories off the street, but his face was flushed with fever. My only problem was that I could not understand and he needed help so greatly that he just spoke in Spanish and seemed to begging me to answer and help anyway. I used money from the discretionary fund and got him a room for a week and some medicine from a clinic. The government of Argentina stepped in to help and he is safely back in Buenos Aires now.

 I was quite shaken that I couldn’t understand when someone was in desperate need. Of course, he might have used another language, but Spanish is the most common language of Jackson Heights and I didn’t speak a word of it. So here I was at Newark Airport a couple of days after Christmas in 2002 heading for Spanish School. I was somewhat scared of going into a new country by myself and overwhelmed because even at Newark, only Spanish was used to announce the Latin American flights.

 I’d like to say that a step of faith is fun and fulfilling, but often a step of faith is something that you do only one or two times in life. It is not easy. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and being certain of what we do not see according to Hebrews 11:1. The step of faith does not have to be missions or Guatemala. It may be starting a ministry at church that no one has started, doing something in your building. A step of faith is different for every person. For me, steps of faith have usually been to equip me more for my leadership of our work and ministry together.

 We have examples of Steps of Faith in the scriptures. For most people, they do not wake up and say, today is a great day! I will take a step of faith. More typical is Rahab, She made the list of people of faith in Hebrews 11:31, but her story is also in Joshua Chapter 2. Rahab was a prostitute called by God. God is willing to use anyone and also call them to new life in Christ. Rahab must have worked where foreigners gathered and realized that spies were present. She had heard about this new foreign power and decided that the corruption of Jericho was too much. Oppression in every age is the same. Government letting the rich get richer while the poor get nothing. Outsized militaries and poverty in the streets of home.

 Rahab’s step of faith was to realize that she could give the spies the information they needed. She decided to take the risk. Did I mention risk? We all want to live interesting lives, learn a lot, have money. But risk and faith are not just spiritual topics. They are every day occurrences. Let’s say that you sign up for a course. Soon you will find out whether you have the intelligence, the time, and previous background to succeed or fail in this course. When the day of the exam comes, you get nervous because you are taking a risk. Your boss offers you a new position. You think that you can do it, but three people have already tried that job in the last two years. It is not just more money to take the new job, it is also a risk and faith.

 God pushed Rahab to a place where she could be of service. It was risky. If the invasion failed, she might lose her life. She went from being a prostitute on the edge of society to serving in the very center. And when the army marched in, they were told to look for the color red. She draped a fabric of red out of her window and the soldiers saved her life.

 Many Christians fail by trying so hard not to fail. The story in the Bible of the talents. When they were given money by their boss, one man doubled the investment, another added a smaller amount. The third buried his money in the ground to reduce risk and had it taken away from him altogether when the owner returned.

 The mission trips and study experiences to the Holy Land and other mission areas are valuable because they get Christians ready for a step of faith. Sometimes they are the step of faith. With Bolivia, Mozambique, Honduras, Ghana, and Cambodia, people of our church or friends have done great things by trying one trip and getting caught by the story of what God is doing in those places. They return again and again because they want to be part of that salvation story.

 I can’t really say that Guatemala is the step of faith like it was for me in 2002. This is my ninth and final trip. I’ve gone through the 7 levels of the language school. The first five times were lonely with no friends and 8 hours a day of class. Steps of faith can feel risky at times. At other times, they just require some strength to keep doing what you are called to until you succeed.

 In my last church, a woman had a manual skills job and life had been rough for her. She had been on the edge many times in life, but her turn to faith in Christ brought a lot into her life. She decided that she would like to start a Food Pantry. I helped her explore the idea and people joined the committee. Caughdenoy soon had a distribution for 50 families every month. They served over 11,000 meals the last year I was at the church and got some state grants to expand the service. They coordinated with other food pantries to push people into working with Social Services for more long term support. It came because Peg made a Step of Faith.

I had a situation in Spanish at Elmhurst Hospital two weeks ago. Unlike my silence with Guillermon in 2002, I was able to understand some, pray some, and I walked back to the church feeling like I had accomplished something good and worthwhile in my step of faith.

Friends, a happy life is somewhat in your hands. You can’t control what other people do , but you can control the way you live. Follow these Biblical ideas that we have stumbled through in the past month. Eat right, exercise right, put energy into a relationship, be a giver, and be ready for God to knock on your hearts door for a Step of Faith. I’ll see you next Sunday and God bless.