Matt Harding is something of a computer geek who makes video games. He lives in the Seattle area but over the past couple of years has had the privilege of “dancing” around the world.
The short of the story is that he used to do a silly little dance around his workmates to get them to stop working and go to lunch. A few years ago Matt quit his job and decided to travel. He visited 30-something countries and in one of them his friend shooting video said, “Do your little dance.” After that Matt decided to make his dance a kind-of signature for everywhere that he traveled. When he returned home he edited his trip by way of all the places he did the dance and put it on his web site (pre-YouTube). It was downloaded like crazy. Later when he posted it on YouTube it went viral and had something like 5 million hits.
Stride Gum saw it and asked him to make another trip doing the dance along the way and they sponsored it.
Enjoy the video. Below I share my reflection.
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
After seeing the video I was lifted in spirit and more lighthearted. I felt joy and a strange sense of connection with diverse people whom I had never met. Then it occurred to me that the “dance” and the others that joined Matt in the “dance” really was picturesque of what God is up to with humanity.
God is doing something of a “dance” in our midst, all of the time. He is the embodiment of joy, gladness and happiness. Yes He takes sin and human depravity seriously but that is primarily because sin robs us of joining Him in life’s dance. Joining God in doing life (“dancing”) bridges our diverse differences, stirs the childlike joy that is innately in us and lifts us from being mired in the mundane.
Can you hear the “music”? Do you “see” the outstretched hand of God inviting you to the dance? Will you join in with God’s “dancers” around the world?
The short of the story is that he used to do a silly little dance around his workmates to get them to stop working and go to lunch. A few years ago Matt quit his job and decided to travel. He visited 30-something countries and in one of them his friend shooting video said, “Do your little dance.” After that Matt decided to make his dance a kind-of signature for everywhere that he traveled. When he returned home he edited his trip by way of all the places he did the dance and put it on his web site (pre-YouTube). It was downloaded like crazy. Later when he posted it on YouTube it went viral and had something like 5 million hits.
Stride Gum saw it and asked him to make another trip doing the dance along the way and they sponsored it.
Enjoy the video. Below I share my reflection.
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
After seeing the video I was lifted in spirit and more lighthearted. I felt joy and a strange sense of connection with diverse people whom I had never met. Then it occurred to me that the “dance” and the others that joined Matt in the “dance” really was picturesque of what God is up to with humanity.
God is doing something of a “dance” in our midst, all of the time. He is the embodiment of joy, gladness and happiness. Yes He takes sin and human depravity seriously but that is primarily because sin robs us of joining Him in life’s dance. Joining God in doing life (“dancing”) bridges our diverse differences, stirs the childlike joy that is innately in us and lifts us from being mired in the mundane.
Can you hear the “music”? Do you “see” the outstretched hand of God inviting you to the dance? Will you join in with God’s “dancers” around the world?
4 comments:
LOVED IT, Let's dance
I have been a fan of Matts for a while. In fact I shared this video with my leadership team at work. Most seemed to experience joy when they watched it but others had no outward signs of joy. It left me wondering - what happened to their joy? Did they ever have it? This, of course, caused me to wonder how I show my joy to others. Joy to me is one of those things that is hard to fabricate. When I feel joyful it tends to just seep out of me. I want to do better at "joy".
Jill O
I first came cross his dancing video in mid-2006. It inspired me to make my video when I went to Australia later that year:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nwm2_cpPuOU
Terry:
Awesome video from Australia. Lot of fun. Thanks for sharing the YouTube link.
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