I Hope You Dance
...fe, we have heartbreak, we have illness, we have pain and yet.... Yet we also experience the greatest joy. The joy of giving ourselves in love. The joy of helping others. The joy of the dance. we are filled with joy and hope. Our scripture says be filled with joy. Rejoice and be happy. This is the message of the week. The message of thanksgiving. Be filled with joy and rejoice. Ask somebody to the dance. I’m not so old that I forget the fear of the dance. There are two horrible times in a guys life that he remembers for the rest of his life. The first is getting up enough nerve to ask so girl to go to the dance with him. There is no phone call as scary as that one. There is nothing worse than walking up to her and gulping as you ask her to go with you. We may act flippant, we may put on a good front, but our palms are sweaty, our throat has a big knot and the words just kind of stumble out. The second scary time is that long walk across the floor. You have gone to the dance by yourself or with the guys. You want to dance with that girl over there but the big open floor is between you. You can’t sneak around the side. You can’t go out one door and in another. The only way to ask her is to walk across that open floor, the one where everyone is watching. You have to cross that floor before you can even ask her and she may still say no. what a fear that is, you may have to walk all the way back without getting in the dance. Life follows just like that. In order to get in the dance of life you have to take risks. You have to risk your heart, your feelings, your existence. And there is no guarantee of success. You may fail and have to take that long walk back alone. Into this comes God walking with us. Thank about it for just a moment. As children of God we have received lots of blessings. God has been watching over us all year. Sometimes bad things happen. Sometimes we are knocked down. Sometimes we are tempted to wonder of God is even paying attention. Yet out of whatever happens God can make something good. We may be tempted not to get into the dance but God is encouraging us. God will take that walk with us. We may fail, we may get shot down. God will still make something good come out of it. That’s what God does. He takes our stumbles, our hesitation, even our bad choices and brings good into the world. Russell was in that terrible accident in February. He was driving and his friend was killed when he hit that tree. Then the state charged him with vehicular Homicide. This carries a jail sentence of up to 15 years. Russell made some poor choices that night and yet God is able to bring good out of tragedy. His hearing in front of the judge was this week. Due to the intervention of Kevin’s mom, the state reduced Russell’s sentence to community arrest and then probation. He will still be doing a form of time and his life will not be his own but there will be no jail time. And if Russell turns his life around, if he thinks of Kevin before he makes any decisions then Russell’s life will be a testimony to his friendship. God will take this tragedy and make good out of it. God is at work with us. God is at work through us. Russell will now be living for himself and for Kevin. His life will now be a thanksgiving of Kevin’s life as well as his own. We look back with Thanksgiving and forward with hope! Go forth with hope, go forth without fear. Our scripture says this too. “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything.” Put your life in God’s hands. Put your trust in God. Let’s put it this way. Be a duck! We look quiet on the surface. We are just looking around and the world sees how peaceful we are. Yet underneath we are paddling like crazy. We know that God is depending on our prayers and our hands. God will bless us but it’s still up to us to do the work. God gives us the gifts, the talents and the time but it’s up to us to bring it all together. It’s up to us to make it happen. It’s up to us to get into the dance. Last week I talked about Roy silver and Randy Holland and their company the Winning Inning. Well, let me tell you of anther of Roy’s sayings. “There are many ways of reaching your goal”. Roy never played in the majors but he could have made it as a coach. Randy never played baseball after high school but he did make it to the majors. He made it as a trainer. If your goal if the majors then there are lots of ways of getting there. Playing, coaching, training, officiating, statistician, owner. Lots of ways. Just because one door is closed doesn’t mean you are to give up. Maybe it just means that you are to use your talent and gifts in a different way and still reach your goal. Maybe it just means getting on your knees and praying a little more. Maybe it means paying attention to God a little more. What is your goal? How badly do you want to achieve your goal? There are many roads to your goal, just because one way doesn’t work it doesn’t mean you stop. If that is really what you want then you can find a way to get there. There are many paths to your goal, yet they all have some things in common. Prayer on your part should always be a part of your pl...