From the Home Place

September 17, 2025

This morning at 2:45 the Holy Spirit woke me for a visit. We are of the habit of starting most days around 4 a.m. with me listening to something the Holy Spirit impresses upon my spirit, we just got an earlier run at it today.

I had asked the Spirit to guide me with what I am to say at the memorial of a very dear friend this coming Friday. He answered with a beautiful reminder of my marveling as I watched a young couple dance. I didn’t know either of them at the time, though we would become very well acquainted over the years that would follow.

You see, when I was a kid, we went dancing almost every Saturday night. There were local dance halls scattered all around the area where I grew up. When I say area, I mean within a seventy-five-mile area. Though we would usually travel less the thirty miles to go to a dance, once or twice a year we would go to a dance at Hubbard’s Mountain Cupboard. It was a several hour trip and usually included staying overnight in our tent.

Well, back to the young couple. We were at the Cottonwood dance hall, only about an hour west of the home place. It was a great dance hall, with a really nice hard-wood floor, kitchen and great band stage. Some local fellas were most often the band, and the dance would usually gather the same group of forty to fifty dancers. But every now and then some new faces would show up, and this was the night that a young couple I didn’t know came to the gathering and they danced!

Oh my did they dance. Though they danced to the same music all the rest of us were dancing to, they came with different steps to many of the old familiar songs. Their twostep flowed smoothly, more like a waltz than a twostep. Their Put Your Little Foot was a dance of grace. And then there was the Shatish. When they danced this particular dance, it was as if they had been dance partners for fifty years. And what was so amazing was that their steps were like those I had never seen before. They danced side-by-side, with one hand tucked behind the back of the other person and moved like two well synchronized solders on a military drill team.

Though the steps of this young couple were unconventional, there was never a time that their hands weren’t touching the other and never a time that their feet weren’t in perfect harmony. I was mesmerized!

When God gave me Miss Deb as my life dance partner, we most enjoy dancing the Shatish with another couple, in a four-some if you will. For the two of us, it seems that we were meant to enjoy our Christian life dance while dancing with others.

So here is the point, I think that being a Christian should be like dancing with God. Now, I mean no disrespect to the Holy One, but when two people dance, someone needs to lead, while the other follows. The same is true of dancing with God. If we allow the Holy Spirit to lead and we follow, it is an amazing partnership that catches the eye of those who are watching.

Let’s drift back sixty some years once again, to the young couple who were new at the party. I finally worked up enough brave to ask the young lady to dance. She was a delight to dance with. Though my youthful dance was much different than what she was used to, she followed with grace, and great conversation. When the music stopped, I told he “Thanks for the dance,” and returned to watching as they danced. This Friday I am blessed to speak at her memorial service.

Today, we live in a culture where very few folks know how to dance the Shatish. I would dare say that there isn’t a band around that could even play it, and that’s too bad. It is a beautiful dance for two or a group of four. It’s all about timing and keep in step with the music and each other. Hint, the more often we dance with the same partner, the better we dance with that partner, that is why we need to dance with God on a daily basis! Allow the Holy Spirit to guide your steps, follow as He leads, and I’m willing to bet at the end of the day, you will say, “Thanks for the dance!”