devotional thought: you know you make me wanna shout

before church yesterday, our pastor came up to me and said, 'today is a day for shouting.' let me back up: you should probably know that i yell in church. often. so for our pastor to encourage it made me laugh a little.

here's the thing: i move during worship. it is kind of dangerous to stand near me. i am expressive with my body. and sometimes i jump. yeah, i joyfully leap while i sing. i throw my hands in the air. i wave 'em like i just don't care.

and how can i not?

i mean that quite seriously. how can i not worship with everything in me? and why should i? why should i restrain myself from doing what i was created to do?

we sing words about Christ being risen. we sing words about being free. we sing words about grace and love and spending eternity with Jesus.

i will not apologize for being excited about that. i simply will not.

i am not ashamed of the way i worship. based on the funny looks i get when i am shouting and jumping, i know not everyone praises the same way i do. that's cool. but i was made to move and shout and dance and love Jesus with every bit of my body, so i am not ashamed of doing so. keeping it inside is what would be the tragedy.

you hit me with words like, Satan is vanquished and Jesus is king, and you'd better believe i am going to tear the roof off--

this is my hope.

this is my life.

this is my SAVIOR.