who's leading who to fun...
Last night I experienced something quite exciting.
A young couple from our church, who happen to also be in my small group, got married yesterday afternoon. It was a beautiful wedding! But the wedding was just the beginning.
After the wedding we were invited to a festive celebration held at a restaurant/bar type of place that was closed to the public and exclusively rented out for the wedding reception. This couple who got married had just come to know the Lord in a personal way within the last year and most of their family and friends were quite obviously not down with God. Most people were making hay while the sun will still shining. (aka - drinking as much free beer and wine as their body could gussle.) Have you ever been to a place where people know that the drinks are free? It is something to behold. I have to tell you, I loved being in the midst of this scene.
There were about 40 people there from our church community and we were having a blast playing pool, talking about life, eating prime rib and laughing at each other's stories. A few were drinking a glass of wine or a beer with their meal, but no one was indulging alchoholically at all. The music was starting to get louder and it was old school dance tunes like, Celebrate Good Times and YMCA. No one was dancing, however.
I was jigging around next to my table and feeling like I wanted to bust a move, but the dance floor was vacant. All the sudden, a group of women from our church moved to the dance floor and started to have fun. One by one, our collective body filled the dance floor and had the time of our lives. No dirty dancing, just a bunch of human beings made in the image of God living like they had something to get excited about. I danced until I was sore.
As we were getting ready to leave, the groom came up to one of the guys from our church and said (listen to this statement), "It was obvious tonight what group of people is most excited about life." I was thinking as we left the reception, this is way it should be, Jesus followers should be the ones having the most fun. We should be the ones that others are looking at and wondering what they're missing. We should be leading the pack to the dance floor. We should give people something to covet, something to crave. We should be the ones smiling, laughing, and dancing.
I drank three large glasses of rasberry lemonade, but I was still under the influence. I was under the influence of the most intoxicating substance available to mankind, The Great Spirit of God. And I danced with others intoxicated with life. "He who has the Son, has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life." I John 5:11-12 It's that simple. Last night, it was the followers of Jesus who pushed back the darkness. We were the ones who partied hard while the world stood around drowning their emptiness with the bottle.
It doesn't matter where you are, Jesus will always be the life of the party.
A young couple from our church, who happen to also be in my small group, got married yesterday afternoon. It was a beautiful wedding! But the wedding was just the beginning.
After the wedding we were invited to a festive celebration held at a restaurant/bar type of place that was closed to the public and exclusively rented out for the wedding reception. This couple who got married had just come to know the Lord in a personal way within the last year and most of their family and friends were quite obviously not down with God. Most people were making hay while the sun will still shining. (aka - drinking as much free beer and wine as their body could gussle.) Have you ever been to a place where people know that the drinks are free? It is something to behold. I have to tell you, I loved being in the midst of this scene.
There were about 40 people there from our church community and we were having a blast playing pool, talking about life, eating prime rib and laughing at each other's stories. A few were drinking a glass of wine or a beer with their meal, but no one was indulging alchoholically at all. The music was starting to get louder and it was old school dance tunes like, Celebrate Good Times and YMCA. No one was dancing, however.
I was jigging around next to my table and feeling like I wanted to bust a move, but the dance floor was vacant. All the sudden, a group of women from our church moved to the dance floor and started to have fun. One by one, our collective body filled the dance floor and had the time of our lives. No dirty dancing, just a bunch of human beings made in the image of God living like they had something to get excited about. I danced until I was sore.
As we were getting ready to leave, the groom came up to one of the guys from our church and said (listen to this statement), "It was obvious tonight what group of people is most excited about life." I was thinking as we left the reception, this is way it should be, Jesus followers should be the ones having the most fun. We should be the ones that others are looking at and wondering what they're missing. We should be leading the pack to the dance floor. We should give people something to covet, something to crave. We should be the ones smiling, laughing, and dancing.
I drank three large glasses of rasberry lemonade, but I was still under the influence. I was under the influence of the most intoxicating substance available to mankind, The Great Spirit of God. And I danced with others intoxicated with life. "He who has the Son, has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life." I John 5:11-12 It's that simple. Last night, it was the followers of Jesus who pushed back the darkness. We were the ones who partied hard while the world stood around drowning their emptiness with the bottle.
It doesn't matter where you are, Jesus will always be the life of the party.
Comments
Would have loved to see you. I laugh as I think about it. Or maybe I am really picturing myself trying to muster the courage. The title of your blog is what interests me most. And I agree whole heartedly. If there is nothing appealing about what we are and our life philosophy, no one will follow, at least not based on our example. Thanks for sharing.