A Reckless Love: Song and Dance

Editor's Note: This is the third of a reflective series entitled "A Reckless Love."


A friend recently told me that he first heard the song You're Beautiful (Phil Wickham) when Josh led campus worship and it seems fitting to contemplate these lyrics.

"I see Your face in every sunrise, the colors of the morning are inside Your eyes, the World awakens in the light of the day, I look up to the sky and say, 'You're beautiful.'"

When you live in close proximity to seventy guys, you learn gaits and sounds associated with one's passing by.  Josh made this "passerby identity" guessing game fairly easy when he sang down the hallway or strummed the guitar.  Many times, Josh worshipped through song.  In the jazz ensemble, he lifted the trumpet and rarely dampened its force.

And of course an aptitude for dance cannot go unnoticed.  Josh was the catalyst of worshipful dance, which so famously resulted in the Sammy II Interlude during Airband 2011.

Then there is his laugh.  A category all its own of his worshipful, praising demeanor.

"I see Your power in the moonlit night, where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright, we are amazed in the light of the stars, it's all proclaiming who You are, 'You're beautiful.'"

Much like the naturally created order, Josh lived his life leading those he influenced to see the beauty of God.  His outdoor endeavors certainly attested to his appreciation for the created world.  But greater still, he had the ability to reveal God's beauty through his very being, his smile, his laughter, and certainly his worship.

I once told Josh that I appreciated when he led campus worship because he was authentic.  His reply was along the lines: "that's what we're made to do, worship."

"I see you there hanging on a tree, You bled and then You died and then You rose again for me, now You are sitting on Your heavenly throne, soon we will be coming home, 'You're beautiful.'"

Certainly the incarnation of God enabled Him to recklessly sacrifice Himself so that we may be welcomed, by faith and volition, as His own through His resurrection.  I believe this is who Josh so faithfully worshipped and goaded others to join him.

"When we arrive at eternity's shore, where death is just a memory and tears are no more, we'll enter in as the wedding bells ring, Your bride will come together and we'll sing, 'You're beautiful.'"

On April 4, 2012, Josh Larkin finally fully experienced the reckless love of the Lord as He came to meet him in deliverance and redemption.  Undoubtedly, at that moment, Josh was able to say, 'You're beautiful.'