Our God created dance

I want to tell you about Derrell Hendricks, a young troop I now admire.

I was invited to be a part of a humanitarian mission here (in Baghdad, Iraq) where a group of about ten of our guys went to deliver a load of goods to some local Iraqi children. The items given out were clothing, paper/pencils, food, soccer balls and other useful stuff. Most of the goods are sent from family members of deployed soldiers.

Anyway, we arrived to the village and there was a crowd of about 20 eager kids, (not including adults). It was a typical humanitarian mission: Soldiers passing stuff out to swarming Iraqi children – they jumped and crawled all over us and put their hands on everything. Several of them repeatedly asked (in broken English) for my camera. It was standard behavior. These missions are always a sort of joyful chaos.

Usually, however, once the items are all passed out, it gets a little slow. We often have only one translator and many soldiers have a hard time playing with kids who don’t speak English. They try to communicate – but it’s usually a little awkward. However, Derrell showed us all a thing or two about foreign relations.

He grabbed a soccer ball and bounced it right off a young boy’s head. That kid grabbed the ball and tossed it back at Derrell as hard as he could. Derrell head butted the ball right back to the boy and it was on. They both jockeyed around for the soccer ball as if they were opponents on a team. Many other children swarmed him and he just tossed them around playfully like they were his own kids.

After about 45 minutes, they grew weary of the soccer ball and all started singing some kind of playground chant in Arabic. Derrell seemed like he couldn’t contain himself. He broke out in a series of dance moves that were both spontaneous and smooth. As he danced to the rhythm of their chant, he was so animated and charismatic that even the adults came to watch. Now, Derrell is black, and his refined and unique dance moves reflected his subculture. No southern white kid my old neighborhood could move like he did and make it look good. There’s just something about the black culture that is joyful and attractive when it comes to dancing. It’s like Derrell just forgot everything around him and moved to the rhythm of the Iraqi chant. This only encouraged the kids – they loved it.



Any child that wasn’t already around Derrell was now on their way to him. The kids were captivated by him. They all joined in the chant and were clapping and singing louder and louder. Derrell just moved with a smiling face and snapping fingers.

After it got dark, the flight sergeant had to break up the fun so we could return. We loaded the bus. Just when we were about to drive off, a boy, who looked like he was about six, ran up the stairs of the bus and loudly sang out the now-familiar chant. Derrell jumped out of his seat and started dancing again, right in the isle. The kid exploded in laughter (a wonderful universal language I think).

A few seconds passed and an Iraqi man came and yanked the boy off the bus.

“That was some good old fashioned fun right there,” said Derrell. No doubt, Derrell made it fun for everyone. His flight sergeant said Derrell was always like that, and that he always connected with people in a unique way. “He’s the pied piper of our squadron,” said the sergeant.

Be reminded that Derrell is God’s creation. The Lord made that young man the way he is. So, when I see things like that, I can’t help but imagine how God enjoyed watching these events as well. It reminds me how carefully and creatively he designed each of us. And we are in his image – I wonder what it’s like to watch Him dance, and to be a part of that scene.