Dance for Joy

I think the thing I say to God most frequently is a sarcastic, "Wow, You're funny."  He's got perfect timing and sometimes it just makes me shake my head.

If you've ever seen Peder Eide in concert, you know that at some point he plays a "hymn on Mountain Dew" that is an upbeat arrangement of "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee."  Towards the end of the song, the invisible band vamps while Peder talks about how if what we're singing is true and we really have the joy of the Lord we don't just uses our voices, we use everything we have.  He tells the audience to put their arms around their sweaty neighbors, complete strangers that are now family.  Then everyone jumps.  Without letting go of each other.

Then, he tells us we can let go.  He moves on to talk about how dance is worship.  There's no right or wrong way to dance for joy.  He says, "David danced before the Lord.  He was almost naked, but we're going to skip that part."

I always play my iPod on shuffle.  Always.  I have over 3,300 songs on it; it's the only way I get to hear all of them.  The other morning, I was getting dressed when "Joyful, Joyful" came on.  Peder's version.  I stopped and danced.

Then I doubled over in laughter.  There I was, just like David, almost naked and dancing before the Lord.

Try it sometime.  It's fun.  Dance before the Lord.  Get the rest of your family to join you, too!

Note: if you are in the presence of others and you are not married to said others, please put some clothes on.  Thanks.

<>< Katie

Happy birthday!

My grandpa turned 75 today! We were talking about "The Birthday Boy" doing something and he snickered. We changed it to Birthday Man. He still laughed and renamed himself, "The Birthday Geezer!"

One of my grandpa's favorite things to do has always been to jump up on a tree stump or any ledge, put his hands above his head, and say "For my next dive!" and pretend to dive into the water.

You know what it's like, to stand on the edge of a pool and contemplate jumping in or not. Standing there, raising your arms, ready to jump, everyone cheering you on... yet, you hesitate. Why? It's not like the water's going to disappear and you're going to crash into the bottom. It can't be that cold if your friends are already in.

God asks us to jump into His Plan. We're standing up there all ready to go, yet we hesitate. Can we trust Him? Does He know what He's doing? What if it's wrong? Trust Him! After all, He knows best! In the words of Steven Curtis Chapman, "I'm divin' in; I'm goin' deep. In over my head I want to be. Caught in the rush, lost in the flow, in over my head I want to go. The river's deep; the river's wide; the river's water is alive. So sink or swim I'm divin' in!"

Why just settle with diving in? Margarita with a Twist in! A family tradition, is the flip into the pool, popularly known as a Margarita with a Twist. Both of my grandparents, in their 70s, will still flip into the pool. Next weekend, went the whole family is over, we shall all flip into the pool together and it will be grand. :-)

<><>

"Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious! ... Come and see what God has done, how awesome His works in man's behalf! He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot—come, let us rejoice in Him." Psalm 66:1-2,5-6

"No misspellings found."
Why does that always make my day?

Happy birthday--late--Melissa! You will get a blog at some point, I promise!