Well, first off - I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Secondly, I will once again be using a "write-in suggestion" for today's blog! (No, there is no commission for sending in a suggestion - sorry - however, suggestions for topics are greatly appreciated) Today's suggestion is once again a video...from YouTube...which I apparently love according to how often I use YouTube in this blog.
Today's video shows a guy, let's call him 'Matt,' dancing all over the world. Watch the video below and then I'll comment...(or I recommend going to YouTube to watch it and click on "high quality" - trust me, it's a million times better in "high quality") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY (I also recommend checking out the dancing "bloopers" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT8jA_pps3o )
Did you see that guy? Could you imagine running into this guy at your cousin's wedding doing this dance? I checked out Matt's official website (http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/index.shtml?fbid=V4LU-hXSxCn - which is hilarious) on his dancing and world trips, and in the 'About Matt' section, there is this quote regarding the origins of the video: "A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt an idea. They were standing around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said "Hey, why don't you stand over there and do that dance. I'll record it." He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It's actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly."
I think I might have to agree - if I saw Matt at a dance, and this was the only dance he did, I would have to agree that he did it poorly. Are you with me? Would you even maybe try to avoid him because of his apparent craziness? And I'm guessing most people (including myself) would only notice his horrible dance skills....little would we know that his "horrible" dance skills got him TWO, yes, TWO free trips AROUND THE WORLD in order to film this dance. The first time he went solo, and then the second time he made this video which includes other people dancing with him. Both of these trips were sponsored by Stride Gum, and I'm sure that they used it in some marketing campaigns. Can you imagine?
I think there are lots of times when we choose to ignore people, to avoid them, to judge the book by its cover...we get scared of what we don't know, and we judge. We make up excuses of why we want to avoid them...but if we took these chances to get to know these people a bit more...think of all of the amazing people we would meet? A bad dancer at our cousin's wedding could turn out to be a guy who has traveled around the world TWICE - for FREE. Someone with ragged clothes could turn out to be a person who has backpacked around Europe for several years; a guy with long, crazy, curly hair could turn out to be a person who has raced in the Iditarod; someone missing a leg could be someone who has wrestled an alligator....
Ok, so not everyone will have such amazing stories regarding why their outside appearance may not be the "norm," but everyone has some amazing stories hidden behind their facade -- EVERYONE! All of us have had such different experiences in our lives, and it really makes me sad when we miss hearing about these various experiences because we're scared away by outside appearances. Even some of the 'boring-looking, old' people have had crazy life experiences...they just maybe aren't as crazy as they used to be. So consider what you may be missing out on in your life by avoiding those that are different...sometimes they are the ones that will open up a whole new world to you.
Jesus was different...but some chose to follow him...and their whole lives were changed...
"As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him." - Matthew 4:18-20
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