"Christ didn't dance, E.J."
"Hm. Bringin' salvation to the whole wide world? Yeah, He probably didn't have a lot of down time."
Oh baby, God didn't give us bodies not to feel this good.
There's something happening. Right now. Right here. In my chest. In yours. That thrumming. A beat. It's not just one heart, not just two. This passion between us. This blood music. She has become a precious thing with wings. A creature of lost scripture and found mythology. My angel. I'm thinking of you in front of eighty thousand eyes. Pilot light blinking: Live. So alive! I'm laughing. Throwing my head back in the rain. Lifting my hands to my face, to the skies, to Christ. Photo shoot. Interview. Public scrutiny doesn't bother me. Can't find me. Not the way you find me. Giving it up. Giving it over. Giving it all to you. Praise the Lord you take me.
"And I'd give up forever to touch you,
so I'm lucky that's not up for trade.
You're the closest to Heaven that I've ever been
and I don't want to fall home right now."
'Cause without you, I'm like the Fallen Angels we speculate over. Striving for redemption on a path alone. Dancing my way through dark clubs, brown eyes glinting, shaking my head "no" to the music, hands in the air, bass line body moving. Willingly lost to the world, condensed into binary and ions, hidden and veiled, cloaked in mysteries that only you and Christ decipher. I'm praying: Stand with me. Walk with me. Guide me. I won't stray because my path is mine. I won't close my eyes because I'm not afraid. Bring the darkness, bring the pain, bring hardship and hate. Bring it. I'm stronger every day. "You've Got Mail." I'm stronger every moment. "You Have 18 New Messages." I'm the woman you always asked me to be, Lord. I'm the person you need, baby. (And, apparently, I'm humble too.)
"And all I can taste is this moment
and all I can breathe is your love.
Yeah, sooner or later it's over
but I don't wanna miss you tonight."
Rejoice! For this is the new day that God has given us, and these, our hearts and bodies, were formed by His hand, and are made in celebration of His glory. What wonder is man. What wonder is God. Rejoice and celebrate! Heed not the words of man who leads his brothers into war and blindness. Heed carefully, intelligently, the written filter, bastardized and removed from the sanctity of context. Turn your face to the light. Listen to the Living Word, beating in your chest. Trust that you will not be led astray because you know you walk the impassioned path. Find it. Claim it. Shout it from mountain tops the way I shout how much I love you. Know evil and be strong enough to slay it, standing alone or standing beside me, donned in the armor of Christ. Know you are enough. Always enough. Just as you are. Perfection made by the hand of God, in celebration of His love for every single one of us. "Christ be with you." "And also with you."
"And I don't want the world to see me,
'cause I don't think that they'd understand.
Everything man-made can be broken,
and I want you to know who I am."
Revel in the new light of day. Step outside. Unsheltered, under the sky. Close you eyes. Then open them. There is your new light. Start from there. Ask Him something. Anything. Feel the truth wash over you like passion. Take you away and lift you up. It is sometimes hard. It is sometimes unfair. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes life burns. But none of it destroys us. None of it can rip us apart. Not if we stand in the new light. Not if we hand it over. Atlas shrugged, baby, and so can we. Christ is there. If He could carry the cross, He can carry our pain, our fear, our uncertainties. Hold my hand. Celebrate in knowing I hold your hand. Every morning, as the new light creeps to the sky, every moment after I open my eyes, I realize my heart is full. I have the time, the energy, the drive. I have every resource in Christ... and one of those resources to draw upon is my passion for you.
Make good. Today. Start now. Today. Rejoice in what you know, not what anyone else tells you. You know. He knows. Throw away fear like a child throws away broken things. Dance. Scream. Run in the rain with me. Pray for those who hurt you and the ones you love. It isn't as easy as it sounds. But you can do it. We can do it. And when I cup your face in my hands, when I gaze into eyes that hide everything and nothing, know that I see Christ in you. Know that the rain that falls over both of us is Heaven sent.
E.J.
