Peace...

We live our lives searching for peace and contentment. Unfortunately most of us are looking in all the wrong places.

I spent a portion of this past Sunday at a juvenile detention center talking to two young men. Both were 15 years old and they’d been arrested for numerous offenses including multiple counts of burglary, possession of drugs and the list goes on and on. Neither one seemed to be too concerned with the fact that they’d been arrested and they spent most of our time together cracking jokes. Probably the most interesting part of our conversation was something one of them said as I was leaving. To be honest I haven’t been able to get it off of my mind. A portion of our conversation is below; to protect his identity we'll call him James.

Me: Just so I can understand your situation a little better tell me why you and your buddy were breaking into cars?
James: To get stuff.
Me: Why did you need stuff?
James: So we could sell it.
Me: Why?
James: To get money.
Me: For what?
James: Drugs.
Me: Why do you need drugs?
James: It’s the only time in my life I’m at peace.

Pretty profound statement for a 15 year old…

“It’s the only time in my life I’m at peace.”

This kid put into words at the age of 15 what most people spend a lifetime trying to figure out. What makes it even more interesting is every time I’m at the detention center I hear the same story. Sure the details may be a little different, but in some way shape or form every kid I talk to just wants a smile on their face and peace in their heart. They honestly have no clue how to get it, but it’s ultimately what they’re searching for.

So let me ask you a question…are we really any different? Now most of us aren’t breaking into cars looking for money so we can buy cocaine, but we do live our lives searching for those split seconds in time when we’re filled with contentment and peace. We probably don’t even realize we’re looking for it but our lives are filled with activities intended to put a smile on our face and peace in our heart.

Maybe it’s a favorite TV show, or a favorite movie, maybe we read or we work. Some of us try to marry for it and some of us travel the world looking for it. We go on vacations to try and get it and we buy big houses and hope it’s in there. We stuff ourselves at nice restaurants thinking we can eat it and then we exercise hoping to regain it. We buy iPods trusting we can listen to it and iPhones wondering if we download it. When the new car smell fades and the excitement is over we move on searching for something else. At the end of the day when we leave the TV on so we can doze off to sleep our lives are consumed with passing the time searching for peace.

I say all this because I’ve been there. I’ve tried to drink it, I’ve tried to smoke it, I’ve tried to buy it and I’ve tried to date it. But at the end of the day true peace in my life was always just a little bit out of my reach. My grandfather once told me that someone asked John D. Rockefeller, America’s first billionaire, how much money it took to make a man happy and content. Rockefeller's reply was, "just a little more than what he has."

Jesus came to this earth to pay the penalty of our sins and to offer us true eternal peace. If we believe in Him and live in harmony with His word we can experience the contentment we so desire. It may sound weird and trust me when I say that 5 years ago I never would have believed it, but the peace I found in my relationship with Jesus was exactly what I was searching for my entire life. I traveled many different roads looking for it, but at the end of the day it was right in front of me the entire time.

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.

- John 16:33