What I learned at U-Jam Instructor Training

Hello everyone!

It's been a great week.  I've had so much going on that I haven't taken the time to write.  God is adding so much to my life, and it's in the little twists and turns that I never really expect that I see him moving the most.  It's *never* like I thought it was going to be.

This past weekend I got to fulfill a long term goal: I did the training to become a U-Jam instructor.  If you've never heard of U-Jam, you probably have seen people at the gym in classes, dancing their little tookuses off, sweating and smiling and burning about a million calories.  The person up at the front is who I am training to be.  My life has been freakishly changed by this type of class, and U-Jam in particular.  U-Jam is a fitness dance class using world beats, so it's got hip-hop, Latin, Reggae, jazz, top 40...pretty much anything awesome and current.  I wear a heart rate monitor in class and I usually burn between 500 and 700 calories.  Not bad for an hour of fun!

To be honest, I was dreading this training.  I am now almost 100% sure that everyone has the same doubts and worries as I do concerning his own limits and fears.  "Will I be good enough?" "Will anyone want to come to my classes?" "Will I know what to say?"  "Do I have the talent?"  Sound familiar?  Those questions go across the board to all humans.  Self doubt is pretty rampant, if we are honest, and there are personally many things I've talked myself out of doing in my life because I thought I wasn't good enough.  Yikes!

Well, this wasn't one of those times!

For two days we sweated our butts off, smiled, learned how to cue and pump up a class, worked on swag, talked about fitness, had amazing laughs and just kept going till we were done!  I'm so glad I did this and I'm so glad that I am one step close to teaching.

I've got another hurdle to jump: my video assessment, and I'll be doing that soon.  Until then I can bask in the glow of the fellowship and purpose I've found doing something I love.  It really is ok to take a chance.

Good Friday

If Good Friday feels "not good", it's because of the Deep Magic. This is where things work backwards. How could the Son of God dying be a good thing? How could the only sinless person being punished for sin be good? The giver of Life retreating into Death and being defeated seem like a loss for everyone. They seem like a whole lot of BAD. So how could this be good? Sometimes God works in the exact opposite way that it seems like He should. There are a lot of backwards things in the world, and today is only the beginning. I am free and pardoned, therefore I call this day Good.