I used to like to dance. I even knew how. I grew up in Memphis and I think it just kinda came with the territory. My brother may not agree with that, but this little white boy could get down. However, as I grew up, I started dancing less. After an incident my freshman year involving a circle and some serious moves I realized I didn’t know the rules anymore and I hung up my dancing shoes. It was like I took some chains and put them on. It wasn’t as if I quit liking to dance. I still wanted to, but after that I felt like Princess Leia attached to Jabba the Hut, minus the bikini. There were times in my life I wanted to dance and celebrate, but it was if some big, fat force was pulling me back.
While I have been in Uganda we have spent time talking about chains. Most of the time, we talk about the boys being chained up from their past life. Maybe it was a situation at home or maybe it’s their life on the street. They are stuck and they can’t get out, chained up somewhere they don’t want to be and not even sure why. Every time they think they are getting away from their problems they are pulled back. Jabba just won’t let them go.
Truthfully, I was held back by all kinds of chains. It took a long time to realize that I was the one who put the chains on me. That sin in my life was just like Jabba. I was dancing, but it was for the wrong person and it was the wrong dance. Jabba, sin, the devil, whatever you want to call it was keeping me from dancing with freedom.
But, years ago, I was freed from those chains. My savior came and broke me free from them or at least yapped them like R2D2 did. Yet, like many people, I didn’t know what to do with the freedom. I had grown comfortable with the chains because it was what I knew. It is like taking the leash off a dog and watching him stand there because he is expecting to be stopped as soon as he gets his hopes for freedom up.
So I lived restrained in my own mind. One of the things that has become more real to me in my time here is that I am FREE! I can dance through the power of Christ’s love if I want to. Some of the reservations I have had are gone. I read the Bible and I know that power is available to me because Christ freed me. My sin has been demolished. Yes I know that I still fail, but God’s grace is so much bigger. This is not some big revelation. Most of us are completely aware of our chains and that we have been freed from them. The real question is are you still waiting for freedom or do you live as though it has already come? My faith, well, it doesn’t resemble the person waiting to be pulled back anymore. I believe it can be done, whatever it is, because my God is big enough. That is my story.
I wish it were everyone’s. Each day we still struggle to help the boys see that they are not the child on the street. They have been freed. They may live on the street, have lived a life full of shame, and done things to others that we can’t imagine, but that is not their identity. Christ freed them from that on the cross. Some days Jabba’s pull is stronger. They choose to revert to what they know. They would rather not live a redeemed life but one of no responsibility. They would rather struggle with life alone instead of having a dance partner. It’s not easy to walk away. If it were, everyone would do it. Instead we are cautious to run into freedom because we don’t know what will happen. Can we really trust God to do everything He says? I mean He is the maker of the universe. Why is He worried about me and what I do? It can become frustrating and that is just how I feel. I can’t imagine how God feels.
However, I read the end of the book. I know who wins. The force is with us. He will love us until we realize we are free. We don’t have to stay here, there, wherever anymore. God has freed you in Jesus to walk away. In the lyrics of some 80’s song “You can dance if you want to.” It’s true. Dance like David danced. He didn’t have any chains or clothes for that matter. So, whatever your chains WERE, I hope you realize Christ has done what’s needed for them to be gone. I pray you will walk, run, or dance the other way. I pray the boys will do the same and see the new creation they can become. I will choose2B a dancer. My moves aren’t as good as they once were, but they have a lot more passion now. I pray you will do the same, and “May the force be with you!”
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