Dance
I got my first taste of Dance Dance Revolution 2 last night. Ken Heintz was our generous host. The game is like this: you've got your TV in front of you and a pad on the floor. The pad has got four directional arrows and a couple other "buttons" that you press to activate. Imagine Twister standing up. You select your tunes and difficulty level, and then as the music starts arrows start flowing to the top of the screen. You match your steps with the arrow reaching the top, trying to step right when the arrow hits the top. The game rates your accuracy (if you get really behind or miss a lot of steps, the crowd starts booing!). The fun of the game is when you start building your confidence and get in the rhythm. It starts to feel really satisfying - it's dance step charts in a whole new way! I am really psyched about the game; I think it's great. Very enjoyable activity, easy to build up success at before long. A couple of my favorite moments were getting to watch others do it - you got to really see them get in the rhythm and good dancing is a beautiful thing to watch - and then at the end of some of the songs you get this big two-stepped hop where both of you land right at the same time so it's like an exciting end of a duet.
This was not my first dance experience of the week! On Tuesday, I again went to the roller skating rink. At the end of the "session" the place plays this line-dance type of thing called the Cha-Cha Slide (version 2). Everybody gets out in the center, and you try to dance. "Slide to the left . . slide to the right . . criss-cross! . . . criss-cross! . . . to the left . . . take it back now, y'all . . . cha-cha real smooth . . reverse . . . let's go to work . . . " The song gets in your head. This is not that same "satisfying" type of dance. Still learning to cha-cha. It's more like playing catch-up.
I think God has got me in a place actually to do a little dancing. He's speaking to me through it. And I think the reality that the dancing has given a window into is, first, learning to follow instructions. Step here, like this, now this, go here, etc. And through that you have to hold onto your individuality in the sense that you've got to be you doing the moves. It's your personality coming through, it's your feet doing the steps. And you also have to learn to be told what you need to do. Second, I think it mirrors relationships. It's a move together, it's not going your own way, freestyling. I'm enjoying that aspect of it.
I'm looking at an overwhelming picture of a tidal wave heading to shore in east Asia. I don't know if it is a real picture or one that has been altered. It is taken from on high. The wave looks like it is about 75 feet high. It is about to smack into this city. There are cars all along the highway right by the shore line.
There was a good article in the Wall Street Journal called "When Faith is Tested" that talked about responses to the events that happened in southeast Asia by people of various faiths. As the article noted, the tragedy hit a full gamut of the world's major religions due to the location. The story had a good spectrum of experience, and I thought there were some pretty insightful ironies amdist it all. It went everywhere from the old Roman Catholic man who said that his faith had been shaken to those who saw it as an opportunity to evangelize and bring the gospel into Indonesia. This was the really first time that I had thought about my own response to the events.
The first comment I found ironic was "People who had zero time for Islam, who had many sins, they're now 99% committed." This is my own little multi-jump thought, but as I see Islam as anti-Christ and the opposite of the gospel truth, I thought that going into Islam would indeed mean a situation where 99% of sins would be committed. You'd be fully vested in it. One man said, "My wife is a Hindu devotee and lights oil lamps to the Hindu gods 24 hours a day . . I, however, have carried 37 bodies on my back. I have big doubts."
Another group expressed questions about God's role in not preventing the tragedy or alerting people to it: "Had there been a storm raging, somehow the tsunami would make more sense to me . . Some noise, some thunder, an explosion, a voice from heaven - something to signal 120,000 deaths," one person said. A Muslim threw out an interesting, yet unsatisfying, "Allah has his own way. As humble humans, there is no way we can comprehend his infinite wisdom." Truth in that and yet resignation and hatred in its tone. Hindus and Buddhists seemed to be dealing with the crisis by talking about how karma and reincarnation were involved, finding solace that those who passed on would be in a better situation afterward. It was destiny. One man said the experience made him hate God. His profession? Carpenter. Other leaders offered a more journeyed interpretation: "It's very hard to know God's intentions and plans, but we should focus on the lessons, rather than the questions." That got me thinking, the best thing I can do is practice my faith, to focus on what I need to be learning rather than what I thought was taken away from me. Honestly, for me, one of the best motivators for me to hold onto faith in Christ is "Where else am I going to go for help?" Another leader, a Catholic vicar, expressed the view that God Himself felt sorry for the tragedy. That introduces that marvelous question, "Then why did He allow something He hated?" For a Christian, this question screams out the answer, "Jesus was completely innocent. Why did He allow it to happen? And then we see that He brought the salvation of the whole world through the most awful event that was ever committed."
In expressing the view about the children lost, a Buddhist used a beautiful word picture: "Human life is like fruits falling off the trees. Sometimes they are not ripe when they are picked." One thing I had to deal with in myself is in the descriptions of how people prayed whole days, how they attended ceremonies to do their praying. I realized how quickly my own mind turns from prayer and from gatherings. I pray about as much as I feel I need, honestly, which is probably indicative of a problem. A lady expressed a closing view of the article: "I don't put it down to God. It's just the way of life. This has reaffirmed to me that you have to live life to the maximum." I thought that was funny the use of that phrase, akin to something perhaps an extreme sport adventurer would say.
Anyway, think about it and go out and dance.
This was not my first dance experience of the week! On Tuesday, I again went to the roller skating rink. At the end of the "session" the place plays this line-dance type of thing called the Cha-Cha Slide (version 2). Everybody gets out in the center, and you try to dance. "Slide to the left . . slide to the right . . criss-cross! . . . criss-cross! . . . to the left . . . take it back now, y'all . . . cha-cha real smooth . . reverse . . . let's go to work . . . " The song gets in your head. This is not that same "satisfying" type of dance. Still learning to cha-cha. It's more like playing catch-up.
I think God has got me in a place actually to do a little dancing. He's speaking to me through it. And I think the reality that the dancing has given a window into is, first, learning to follow instructions. Step here, like this, now this, go here, etc. And through that you have to hold onto your individuality in the sense that you've got to be you doing the moves. It's your personality coming through, it's your feet doing the steps. And you also have to learn to be told what you need to do. Second, I think it mirrors relationships. It's a move together, it's not going your own way, freestyling. I'm enjoying that aspect of it.
I'm looking at an overwhelming picture of a tidal wave heading to shore in east Asia. I don't know if it is a real picture or one that has been altered. It is taken from on high. The wave looks like it is about 75 feet high. It is about to smack into this city. There are cars all along the highway right by the shore line.
There was a good article in the Wall Street Journal called "When Faith is Tested" that talked about responses to the events that happened in southeast Asia by people of various faiths. As the article noted, the tragedy hit a full gamut of the world's major religions due to the location. The story had a good spectrum of experience, and I thought there were some pretty insightful ironies amdist it all. It went everywhere from the old Roman Catholic man who said that his faith had been shaken to those who saw it as an opportunity to evangelize and bring the gospel into Indonesia. This was the really first time that I had thought about my own response to the events.
The first comment I found ironic was "People who had zero time for Islam, who had many sins, they're now 99% committed." This is my own little multi-jump thought, but as I see Islam as anti-Christ and the opposite of the gospel truth, I thought that going into Islam would indeed mean a situation where 99% of sins would be committed. You'd be fully vested in it. One man said, "My wife is a Hindu devotee and lights oil lamps to the Hindu gods 24 hours a day . . I, however, have carried 37 bodies on my back. I have big doubts."
Another group expressed questions about God's role in not preventing the tragedy or alerting people to it: "Had there been a storm raging, somehow the tsunami would make more sense to me . . Some noise, some thunder, an explosion, a voice from heaven - something to signal 120,000 deaths," one person said. A Muslim threw out an interesting, yet unsatisfying, "Allah has his own way. As humble humans, there is no way we can comprehend his infinite wisdom." Truth in that and yet resignation and hatred in its tone. Hindus and Buddhists seemed to be dealing with the crisis by talking about how karma and reincarnation were involved, finding solace that those who passed on would be in a better situation afterward. It was destiny. One man said the experience made him hate God. His profession? Carpenter. Other leaders offered a more journeyed interpretation: "It's very hard to know God's intentions and plans, but we should focus on the lessons, rather than the questions." That got me thinking, the best thing I can do is practice my faith, to focus on what I need to be learning rather than what I thought was taken away from me. Honestly, for me, one of the best motivators for me to hold onto faith in Christ is "Where else am I going to go for help?" Another leader, a Catholic vicar, expressed the view that God Himself felt sorry for the tragedy. That introduces that marvelous question, "Then why did He allow something He hated?" For a Christian, this question screams out the answer, "Jesus was completely innocent. Why did He allow it to happen? And then we see that He brought the salvation of the whole world through the most awful event that was ever committed."
In expressing the view about the children lost, a Buddhist used a beautiful word picture: "Human life is like fruits falling off the trees. Sometimes they are not ripe when they are picked." One thing I had to deal with in myself is in the descriptions of how people prayed whole days, how they attended ceremonies to do their praying. I realized how quickly my own mind turns from prayer and from gatherings. I pray about as much as I feel I need, honestly, which is probably indicative of a problem. A lady expressed a closing view of the article: "I don't put it down to God. It's just the way of life. This has reaffirmed to me that you have to live life to the maximum." I thought that was funny the use of that phrase, akin to something perhaps an extreme sport adventurer would say.
Anyway, think about it and go out and dance.
Labels: Events
posted by David at 10:00 AM
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