through dark there is Light

But the voice of truth
Tells me a different story
The voice of truth
Says 'do not be afraid'
And the voice of truth
Says this is for my glory
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe
The voice of truth
Casting Crowns

I just returned from the L.A. Dance Force competition in Daytona. While everyone on my team had previously been to atleast one other competition, I had never been to one before. As my teacher said, I was the "virgin competitor". Haha. It shocked me. Not only was the tecnique, for the most part, incredible and unbelievable, but ... the sin and filth that was present was astonishing. Literally, (excuse my french, but there is no other word to use) whores walking around; dancing in bra and underwear (spandex shorts, but might as well have been underwear). One of the teams did a dance wearing white pleated skirts that didn't even cover their butts (the black spandex was sticking out), black knee highs with bra straps hooked up to lacy underwear (that could also be seen out of the skirt), black zip hoodies that then unzipped only to reveal white shirts with their bras hanging out. I don't know if I've ever been so disgusted in my life. I wouldn't have worn that outfit, much less done the dance that they did for all of the money in the world. Even sicker was the fact that their moms were there, chearing them on, encouraging their daughters to flaunt their sacred bodies to the world. I felt sick after the fact and was hardly in a mind set to perform. But then, I started thinking about the words of the song of our first dance (I've posted them above for you) and I realized that us performing that dance was more than just the Providence Competition Team dancing to a Christian song. God had placed us there to be a light in this incredibly dark place. We had the opportunity to be used by the Lord in a most amazing way. And, I have to tell you, He truly blessed our efforts. Compared to these other competitors (despite their raunchy display, they had excellent technique - i.e. 5 pirouettes effortlessly, a group of 15 people doing 10 or so fouette's perfectly together...are you getting the idea?) we were on the lower end of the spectrum. Granted, it was our first time competing as a team, and most of these studios have been competing for years. But, even so, despite our lower level, we managed to score high enough for a silver medal (though we weren't in the top 5) with Voice of Truth, and we placed third with our jazz dance, Car Wash. I thought that was an incredible blessing, and a goal that could have only been achieved with the Lord as our dance partner. If you all had seen our competitors ... you probably wouldn't believe that we placed as well as we did. To be third out of this group is astonishing. But, how awesome that the Christian, clean, polite dance was awarded and I can only hope that we were a ministry to the people and judges that watched us. You know, our technique may not be as good as the rest of them, but we have something far more important, and we were dancing for someOne far more important. Because our attitude was simply to glorify the Lord, we were content with whatever He allowed to happen. And He exceeded our expectations, greatly.

I said all of that just to say that Christians, especially Christian dancers, are so few and far between these days. And in this sin-infested world, we must always be a reflection of Jesus Christ in the way we dance. I feel so blessed to have been able to share the Word of God through dance - a medium that most people watching that evening could understand. My prayer is that it truly touched someone, and has moved someone one step closer to finding their ultimate goal in life; because, life isn't all about the Platinum medals that you get in a dance competition, and it's not about how perfect your technique is or how together your fouettes are...but rather, it's about glorifying the Lord with every breath, every movement and every step, and I believe that is exactly what the Providence Competition Team did last night. Take hold of every opportunity to be a light for God's kingdom, and get to know the incredible blessing He gives you in return. It surpasses any medal that a human can give you. The silver medal each of holds in our hands is miniscule compared to the award of being a minister of God's amazing love. :)

God bless,
lv