Risk vs. Reward at the Jr. High Dance

There is always a risk in taking a relationship to the next level. Once you open up to someone to discover something new about them, they have the power in the relationship. Giving away control (i.e. power) is very difficult.

Did you go to your Jr. High dances? I loved them, but they were built for an awkward, over-confident extrovert like me to win. I was in junior high during the years of 1986-1989 where we “Walked Like an Egyptian” with the Bangals and tight rolled our jeans to the “Final Countdown” with my favorite 80′s band Bon Jovi. About 30 minutes into the dance the most awkward minutes in human history would be written: The Jr. High slow dance. Poison would start to slow rock with the 80′s style Power Ballad letting our early pubescent ears know that “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.” We had no clue what it meant but we knew you couldn’t dance alone to it.

Just like your dances, all the guys were on one side of the grand canyon & all the girls were on the other. Being one of the first to brave that deep abyss was simply gut wrenching. To walk across in full view of all your friends, and give control over to someone else. Being asked to dance is great. Asking someone else to dance was like free-falling with the other person holding the parachute.

You have no control over how it is going to end: Rejection (I had my share), Acceptance (Had some wins), or confusing laughter (had one of those).

Taking any relationship to the next level of trust is risky. God knows how you feel:

Hebrews 4:14-16 (New International Version)

“14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Here is the Bangals singing “Walk Like An Egyptian” (just for the laugh)