OK, I’ve had this post in a draft stage for way too long. All I really wanted to do is describe a guy that I remember at YWAM in Marshal, TX about 10 years ago that has always been an image of true praise to me.

Anyways, the deal was that this guy was about 5′4″, dark hair, mustache, squarish glasses, early 40’s. And, as the auditorium full of young people began praising their creator and savior in song, this fellow would take off his shoes and praise God in some of the most expressive dancing and singing I’ve ever seen. Up front, in his socks. Totally oblivious to how he looked to everyone else.  He was an example to me of responding to the great yearning in our hearts for what is awe-inspiring, wonderful, powerful, and heart-breakingly beautiful. An expression of praise, and how that expression is something of our soul and not of our physical being – something that is within all of us no matter our stature, our looks, our intelligence, etc…

It is the attitude and expression of our heart to God vs. the lyrical or musical quality that matters. If praise music is able to accomplish that with simple lyrics, then great! I wish that we could have both (quality and expression), but where its not possible, examples like the dancing sock guy, King David dancing in a loin cloth, and Keith Green singing his heart out remind me of true worship.