air guitar rockin'

So this weekend during the church service, I sat behind a mentally challenged adult. He was about a foot shorter than me, sitting smack in the middle of a section close to the stage...and rockin' out to air guitar like I've never seen before. It probably made his day that the worship band played both an audioslave (I'm serious) and a Paramour song - perfect for air guitar. And it was...exhilarating. Almost laughable. I don't mean because it was embarrassing for him, or embarrassing to those around his flailing arms and jumping up and down, hands reaching to the heavens. I mean that maybe everyone else in the building should have been embarrassed.

Picture it: 2,000 people. lights dimmed. Drummer banging away on his set like there's no tomorrow, soloist wailing out the lyrics with an edge to her voice, lovingn the God we serve. a mound of people standing still, singing, yes, but sort of frozen in time. and this guy, jumping around like you couldn't hold him down if you tried. Nothing held him back. He sang louder than I've ever heard someone sing in church. He rocked better than any classic rock band from the 80s. He had more stage presence than anyone actually up on stage. In fact, though he would be labelled as mentally challenged....maybe, in this instance. he was more mentally present than anyone around him. Myself included.

Because as I stood there, in my skirt, heels, hair done, and, well, rather tame reflection of God in my life during a worship service, he was anything but tame.

He was exuberant.

He was celebrating with abandon.

He was undignified.

More than anyone else I've ever seen during a service, he was full of reckless love for his Savior.

Now I'm not saying that everyone around us wasn't worshipping. They were. you could hear the harmony, see people tapping their feet to the beat. But this guy was way over the edge. Multiple times during the service, I seriously considered climbing over the two rows of seats to rock out with him.

I hope that his exuberance is present in my life. I hope that I worship my God with abandon - maybe not as intensely during a worship service, but as intensely in my daily life. I hope that I remember that though my faith is more serious than anything else I'll ever encounter, it is the very joy that faith embraces that cannot help but well up and skyrocket out like a fountain. I hope that the importance of my message and my lifestyle is coupled with a reckless abandon of my love for my Father in Heaven and His spirit in me. I hope I rock at air guitar.