To worship the way David did. This was the first of the 26 challenges I gave myself for this year. I wanted to start off my twenty- sixth year of life by praising God in ways that were uninhibited by circumstances or surroundings. David gave the best example I know of in how to do that. He was unhindered, alive and maybe a little wreckless. Whatever he did, he did it big. If he was going to worship, he wasn’t going to stand or sit or lay in a building while they played a song. He wasn’t even just going to dance before God.
He got naked.
No, I didn’t dance naked in the streets. But, I kind of did emotionally.
When I was little, I waved flags in church during worship and I remember how easy it was to forget about the people in the pews when I did it. I remember imagining myself in the throne room of heaven, worshipping God because He deserved to be worshipped. 
Over the years, I’ve gotten away from true and free worship. I believe there are many ways to praise God and I think we do so every moment we choose to live our lives with Him. But there is something about dancing. There’s something about waving flags around that creates an environment of honor and intimacy. There’s something about choosing to do that in private and there’s something about doing it publicly.
It’s kind of like when you really appreciate someone and you give a toast to honor the way they have impacted your life. You could have gone to that person privately and told them all the good things you think about them. But, when you stand before that person’s family and friends and say those things, the atmosphere shifts and now other people are invited to know the good things about that person too.
So regardless of where I was, I would find somewhere to worship in attempt to give God honor. I took my flags to a decently private place, turned on my music and danced around like a fool.
I turned 26 in Nicaragua so I worshipped in the street outside our house in Managua, on the beach, by the rocks, under the stars, on a rooftop terrace in Leon and then, when I got to the US, outside of the hotel by the pool. I wish I could say that every time I did it, I was so in tune with the Spirit and so wrapped up in worship that I didn’t worry if people were watching or what they were thinking if they were.
When I was down by the rocks, I was afraid people would see me and wonder why this crazy white lady was waving flags around like she was stranded on an island, trying to get rescued. One day I was waving my flags and a big group of people showed up and decided to climb the rock that was keeping all the eyes from seeing me. Everything in me wanted to stop, be normal and hide. When I was out by the pool at the hotel, I was aware of every person that walked by and one night I only played two songs because I just wanted to go back inside. I felt naked. I felt insecure.
Even though all this is true, when I did choose to stay, when I turned my eyes back to Christ and focused on giving Him honor, I was able to love God more than I loved myself. I was able to forget about me and all my fears. I tasted a little bit of surrender before the Lord and I think it made Him happy. It made me happy too.
I have three most cherished moments from the intentional time I spent worshipping the last two weeks that I’ll share. The first was when two of my friends came with me and we worshipped out by the rocks, in the ocean, under the stars. It was pure and it was community. We took turns with the flags, danced, sang and jumped in the water. The second was when the group came over and I decided to stay, even though everything in me wanted to hide. The third was the last night, outside of my hotel room. The way the hotel was shaped, all the rooms faced towards the pool I was dancing beside. I danced hard. I thought about all the people God has shared with me, all the places I’ve been, all the ways He has drawn me closer and I danced real hard – like I was mad. I actually almost wanted people to see. I wanted people to know that He is good and that they can be free too.
These two weeks have been so good. Even though I’m on to the next task, I know I’ll keep worshipping like this. I’m now on a mission to redeem dance and I always want to honor my Maker, publicly and privately.
