Hula Devotion

April 6, 2010

Hula Dancer

What’s the most amazing feeling in life? If you ask 100 people you are most definitely going to get 100 different responses if you give them adequate time to ponder the question. Many people may tell you something about helping others out, little “warm fuzzies” during the day that don’t say a lot to the outsiders but means a galaxy’s worth to them. Others will tell you spending time with their soul mate. The list goes on and on, I won’t continue to bore you with rambling reasons, but there’s one feeling that I feel, in my life, trumps all others that has come through before. Have you ever watched God work through someone, whether it’s an action or a passage or anything, doesn’t even have to be through another person, but you know it when you see it ya?

I have always heard that ‘actions speak louder than words’ and I do believe this statement to be very true. It doesn’t surprise me that my new pastor, Brent, said that same phrase in his message last Sunday (April 4, 2010). When he was nearly finished an older lady came up to do a dance, a hula dance. It was a mere devotion to God and was done to a gospel song. Everything up to this point was normal, and then the music just wouldn’t play, but luckily it’s the 21^st century and she was able to grab her ipod and plug it into the system. I was expecting to be impressed; I always am with cultural dances and anything new to be honest. As soon as the song started and her front leg came forward and pointed her toe on the ground a giant smile was plastered across my face. At this point, in recollection I distinctly remembering trying to stop smiling as my cheeks started to hurt and that was when it hit me, I was genuinely smiling now. Not just a grin, but a full on giant smile you put on your face when you get that special present you wanted more than anything else in the world. I simply could not wipe it off my face. If I could describe the feeling I think it would be similar to how proud a parent feels as they watch their child perform in an art, or sporting event and all eyes are on them and they watch as their child performs flawless or not, they are always proud because they love them, unconditionally. I love the parent-child metaphor for love when I try to explain God’s love for us whether its to help my own thoughts or explain to a friend who is confused about my beliefs, I think the metaphor is the closest thing that we can find here on earth.

For me, when I talk to my Lord, or see him act through my environment in the day, I feel a very familiar chill come across me. It envelops my body and it always starts in my mid back, right between the shoulder blades and creeps up my neck where it shoots everywhere across my peripheral nervous system. Every hair follicle tingles, my arms develop goose bumps and I feel warm, as if someone poured an invisible warm liquid on me that somehow warms you up instantly but doesn’t feel wet. I don’t know how else to describe it, but whenever I feel alone I talk to Him and I know he’s listening by that chill, He’s always next to me so I know I can feel that at any moment in my life, it’s an awesome feeling like no other. When the lady was doing her dance I could feel Him in the room. Not just on me but this time it was greater, much greater. I got the same feeling I get when I stop to look at the stars, I feel humbled yet protected at the same time. It was pure beauty. I know that what I witnessed was just that, beauty in its most raw form! The feeling overwhelmed me, yet this time it lasted for the duration of the song/dance. At the end when service was over I felt myself get up and walk straight up to the lady and just tell her how beautiful it was and how grateful I felt to have witnessed such a righteous devotion.

The lady smiled at me and very modestly asked if I was a new comer for she hadn’t recognized me and invited me to go have lunch with her and a few other members of the church which I regretfully declined and went home with my friends instead. The entire service was amazing, I walked out of the longest service of the semester (2 hours) and felt as if it was 30 minutes. I didn’t care what the time was, I wanted to have more, I yearned for Him, for more time to feel so close to him, closer than I ever had before. I knew that I was ‘forever changed,’ as I sang those words in a song at the beginning of the morning. I know my life is not ever going to be the same, no matter how much time I spend ‘camping out’ in the wilderness I am me, and that is a Christian and a loyal servant to my Lord.

It’s amazing how different life is when you stop and give him the keys, not just when times get hard but rather all day everyday. For those that know me, they will tell you that I’m a control freak, I need to know what is going on, where to be and at what time. So to give up my power full time has always been a continuous struggle for me but as I learn more and more it’s become a little easier and my eyes have become more focused to see where God is, my ears a little keener to hear His words and my touch more enhanced to feel His presence next to me, every step of the way. In my journey back, back to my roots sort to speak I had to re-download the song that pushed me into Christianity back in the 7^th grade because I did not have it on my new computer. “Lift it” by Thousand Foot Krutch, I need to go back to where I came from and I need to do what I was taught by my father at the age of 12. I need to patch up my foundation, mix up some concrete and press it in the cracks to seal it up and fortify my footings so that I can stand taller than I ever have before and stronger as well. It’s harder being 4000 miles away from my best friends and fellow followers but I have full confidence that He will not only show me the way to meeting additional friends that have mutual views but also keep me on the path so that I will not wander. I have full faith that I am where I needed to be, where I can grow stronger as a Christian and eventually become the man that he created me to be.