Dancing with Vladimir
John Fischer

I wrote a song once in which the chorus began, “It’s still life, but not as still as it once seemed.” It was a personal play on words about my songwriting career that had begun ten years earlier with an album called “Still Life.”

The song captured something that I think is pretty common to a walk of faith. We start out with seemingly more passion, more freedom, more acting on our faith than we have later on. Life gets more complicated, faith gets more taken for granted, and we get more apathetic and boring.

Chalk it up to responsibilities, cares of this world — what have you — it still isn’t right. If I was freer in my faith years ago, shouldn’t I be enjoying even more freedom now? Did I crawl into this cage all by myself? Is that the way it’s supposed to be? Am I supposed to be a part of the “older generation” criticizing the new “Jesus Freaks” of the twenty-first century while they invade the church and start a new spiritual revolution that leaves me behind? I hope not. If I ever start sounding like I am, you have permission to shoot me!

A couple weeks ago, 20,000 members helped Saddleback Church celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary with a Sunday service at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. As the service began, I was standing with the rest of the Purpose Driven staff just inside the right field foul pole. We were waiting to be introduced, at which time we were to run out onto the outfield, the other church staff members occupying the bases on the playing diamond.

While we waited for our moment, guest artist Michael W. Smith led everyone in a new worship song about freedom in Christ, and one of the lines was “free to dance.” I was immediately swept up into the emotion of abandonment and praise. Suddenly this desire overtook me to take off dancing into right field and totally give myself to the music and the worship. It actually took everything in me not to do this, but I didn’t. The sensible part won. The What-would-20,000-people-think-about-some-bald-guy-with-really-stupid-“whitebread”-moves-making-a-fool-of-himself-out-in-right-field? thoughts won out. I missed it—my chance to dance for the Lord where Vladimir Guerrero’s plays on home games.

Darn. I have no one to blame for this but myself.

Part of growing in Christ shouldn’t be to get more boring. It should be to get freer with our love for Him. We should be losing our inhibitions, not gaining them. It should be less important what other people think as we grow, not more important.

Here’s to making all those “should”s a reality!

PDL