Recently, I was able to see two different performances that really struck me, yet in very different ways. They have both inspired me to strive to always be a better performer:
1) Guy at the back of the Disneyland parade. There’s a guy who’s job is to dance on the back of the last float of the Disneyland Parade. Here’s a short video I took on my iPhone:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7rUIooFwjM?rel=0]
This guy amazed me, and here’s why. For the first time after sitting with our kids and watching the parade go by, my wife and I decided to follow the parade out of the park. For a while we simply walked behind and talked, while listening to the same music, “Step In Time” play over and over. After a little while, my wife told me to look at the dancer on the back of the last float. This guy seemed to have the most energy of the entire cast, and yet was only really seen by the people who were following the parade. In fact when we went between the backside of the castle and the Matterhorn (where there were really no people watching) he seemed to turn it into overdrive for us. We were amazed that though he only had like a 4’x2’ dancing area, how much energy and charisma he brought to us poor tired folk following the parade. I was so impressed with his performance that I told my wife Maribeth, “I’ve got to film that guy and write a blog about him.
Yet that was last week and though it brought us happiness that night and we were completely taken by his performance, I could not completely formulate the blog post in my mind. That takes us to performance # 2.
2) Lacrae. Lacrae is on top of the Christian Hip-Hop scene and is one of the best live musical artists I have seen in my life. First, the energy that he and his backup singer had the entire show was better than most punk bands I have seen in my day. His dancing and jumping around hyped the crowd so much that he had the entire Savemart center moving. His rhymes and beats were not the normal “Christian music” that one would expect. (It’s sad that I even need to write that since if Christians are truly serving the most creative Being in the universe, than they should BE the most creative artists out there!) But Lacrae shows how creative his God has made him with incredible beats. Often when telling someone about him I say, “it doesn’t sound like ‘Christian-Hip-Hop!’”
But here’s the difference between Lacrae and the Disneyland parade dancer: From how Lacrae presented himself on stage to his lyrics, he was glorifying something greater than himself in a way that left me with something more. This is in no way to disrespect the Disneyland dancer! What I loved about the Disneyland dancer was that he gave it his all, even when only a few people were looking, and I will keep that with me for a long time. But the difference with Lacrae was that he brought a message that was straight up good news that brings me much more than mere happiness for a while, but JOY for eternity! And because of that it, will leave a lasting, if not eternal, impression on my life. Lecrae is an artist that brings attention to the One who all creativity flows from!
One thing that Lacrae said that I will hold onto as I go out and perform is, “I do not want to be a celebrity! I aspire to be a hero. For a celebrity seeks the fame for himself, where a hero brings glory to the One it is due!”
Check out Lacrae’s video called background! I hope this is how I perform:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHnZRZiCYHE?rel=0]