Years ago Ken Medema told the story of an experience he had at a youth function in Atlanta. He had been invited to play for a youth party after church one night, and he entertained the kids with some of his old 50s love songs. After his part was over, somebody fired up the record player (yes, record player) and started playing some other music, and these church kids started to dance.
Ken remained off to the side; he had been raised in a home that forbade dancing.
Soon, however, what he called “this wallflower of a girl” approached him shyly and asked, “Would you like to dance?”
I should mention at this point that Ken is completely blind. He was horrified at the thought of being laughed out of the room for trying something so completely risky and foreign to him, and he tried to beg off.
But Miss Wallflower wasn’t taking no for an answer. And the dance was on. Ken was profoundly touched – not just by an after-church social, but by someone who risked calling him out to something he had never experienced before. And in seeing a striking parallel to his relationship with the Lord, who also has asked him to dance in His own way, he wrote the song, “She Asked Me to Dance.”
Imagine being called to a dance floor – away from the safe fringes and the familiar walls to come front-and-center and join the rhythm and melody of a Trinity who is always moving at the speed of eternity… and invites you to move with Him.
This is a dance that gives new meaning to the word, “graceful.” He invites you to join Him, not because you have something to offer Him, but because he delights in offering Himself to you, and in taking you to places you would never go otherwise.
He confronts fears you are powerless to overcome. He offers His presence when all you can see are the instructions for doing everything correctly. He promises that in this dance all things are possible to the One who knows no limits and the one who responds to his invitation to follow Him.
He reaches out to you as if there is no other soul on the planet worth waiting for. That there is no other time but now. That there is no other horizon than forever. That there is no other desire than to spend eternity with you.
There on the Dance Floor He leads you in a different kind of way. Not trapped by the rules of the self-righteous, He invites you to trust Him. To taste and see that He is good and strong and aware and kind. To rise to a different kind of intimacy with Him – one based on love, not legalities. All He asks is that you let Him lead.
“Follow Me,” He says with an outstretched hand. “Would you like to dance?”
Unforgettable… He was the coming of spring on a cold winter’s day.
Unforgettable… He taught this singer to sing in a whole new way.
Come to the Dance Floor. There as you leave the safe and predictable, you will rediscover a Partner who still knows how to take your breath away. As you let go of your fears of what you may look like in the land of the critics and copycats, you will discover a Heavenly Bridegroom who still knows how to express love to His Bride.
As you risk turning loose of the control over your life, you will discover the ultimate safety of His arms of love – that He will bear you up and won’t let you fall.
As you let go of the weariness and fatigue of living with two left feet, you will discover what you may have waited all your life to see – that in His presence there is still fullness of joy. And at His right hand, there are still pleasures – and plenty more dances – forever.