Clay in the Hands

I was only at youth camp for one evening before returning home, so I am sure there will be better things to report but this was one of those moments that is most likely more funny to me than you might find it – but here goes.  The schedule included “Late Night” each night at 9:30.  Monday night the agenda was square dancing.

A real live square dance caller was brought in to make it a real experience.  So here is the scene:  300 middle school and high school students, excited to be at camp on the first night – boys trying to impress girls and girls doing the same (you know the scene) – all crammed into a long narrow room 35 feet wide and 100 feet long.  It was chaos.  The caller, a tall, thin man in his early 100’s (ok probably really in his 70’s) was at the mic trying to get the students to follow the calls.

Finally, the frustration got to him and he yelled out through the mic, “You wanna dance or you wanna visit?”  I was just observing all of this and I lost it.  It was the funniest thing I had heard in a long time.  The sad thing was, I am not sure that many of the students heard it or even cared.  But he finally got them going in the right direction and the overall effect was that they all had a good time.

I still plan on having the man’s picture put on a T-shirt with the tag line, “You wanna dance or you wanna visit” emblazoned across the front.  But the experience has come back to me several times this week.  It got me to thinking about how often that question could be asked of me.  How often do we go to church because that is what we are “supposed” to do?  We put on a joyful face and put on aires trying to impress our peers.  But we rarely really join the dance.

As a Christian, God has a wonderful plan for each of us – one that will require everything from us but be the ride – or the dance – or our lives.  But so often we stand by and never participate.  So my question for you to ponder this weekend is this – “You wanna dance or you wanna visit?”  The choice is yours – but as for me – I wanna dance!!!