"After awhile Sarah asked, “Do you like the band?”  

     “Yes, they're very good.”

      People were now dancing up front and as Sarah watched she commented, “That looks like fun.” 

     As if he himself was waiting for the right opportunity to ask her to dance, Alex then quickly wiped his hands, stood up, and extended his hand to her in an invitation to dance. 

     “Oh, I don’t know how to dance to this.” 

     “It’s not that hard.  I’ll show you.” 

     After looking around at the large crowed she replied tentatively, “Well, alright, but I don't want to dance upfront.” 

     “Fair enough,” he said as they made their way to the area reserved for dancing. 

     As promised he made his way towards the back and instructed, “Just follow my lead, and while we are learning to dance together, I want you to consider how it relates to learning to dance with our Lord.” 

     Sarah nodded while placing her other hand in his, then watching his feet she followed his lead. After a few awkward attempts she began to quickly get the hang of it. 

     “Very good, you catch on quickly. You can stop watching my feet now and look up.” 

     She did and shortly thereafter she began looking around at the other dancers, and then the crowd.  Self-consciousness began its unpleasant intrusion and as she was accustomed to, she gave way to it without thought or resistance.  As her soul filled with feelings of awkwardness and inadequacy Sarah then began to stumble. “Sorry,” she offered apologetically when she stepped on Alex's foot.” 

     “That's ok, the're steel toed. You could stomp on them and I wouldn't feel a thing. Put it to the test if you’d like.” 

     “I’ll take your word for it," Sarah said while giggling at the thought.  Yes, she told herself, I need to learn to laugh more about these things, and myself, instead of letting my thoughts run freely to the worst scenario. 

     “Good to see you more relaxed, that's important. Now forget about everyone else and focus on me.” As she did he continued, “Get a feel for the music and follow my lead.” 

     Sarah followed his instructions and as she did she was happy to find that beyond a few mishaps she had instinctively remembered the steps and was able to keep up.

      “You’re doing great, I think it’s time we picked up the pace.”

      Alex could see her growing anxious at the suggestion and before it continued to escalate he quickly intercepted her thoughts, “Sarah, trust me, you’re ready…and I promise not to do anything crazy…”  then as she began to relax again he added, “At least, not yet.” 

     Her eyes grew wide with fear and regretting taking that opportunity to tease her, he then quickly intercepted his own pass, “I’m kidding..." then with a wink he continued, "and if I did I'd let you stand on my feet.” 

     Meanwhile, Sarah found herself thinking, 'This process of changing my thoughts isn't always as easy at it seems.'  Recalling his words on the heart having the loudspeaker she then continued to herself, 'Since I've known him he's been true to his word.  I need to let go and trust him to take the lead.'  Relaxing again she warned, “Well don’t make any promises you’re not ready to keep because if that’s the case I plan on doing just that.” 

     “You’ve got a deal.” The song then came to an end and after receiving applaud from the audience the band then went into the next song. 

     “One more,” Alex asked hopefully. 

     She nodded yes and their dancing went even smoother the second time around. Alex then threw in some fancy foot work drawing her attention to it. 

     Sarah couldn't help but laugh.  “Show off.” 

     “Can you blame a guy for trying to impress the gal he likes?”

      Smiling with no signs of her former self-consciousness she replied, “Then it should please you to know I’m impressed.” 

     “Me too, you’re a good student.” 

     “I have a good teacher.”　 

     "Why thank you."  He thenguiding her through some new moves. Sarah was delighted to find that with her eyes fixed on him and devoid of any distractions, she was able to easily adjust and follow along. “Very good," he stressed.  "It's much easier to follow along when we're focused on the right thing and not allowing other things to distract us."  

     Being engaged in the process and hearing him articulate it, Sarah was able to grasp it with greater depth.  They then danced to the next song before the band took a break. 

     As they were making their way back to their spot they heard a voice calling, “Alex, Alex, it’s me, Roger.” 

     “Roger? My goodness, it’s been a long time.” 

     “It sure has. I’m playing with the band and spotted you. I wanted to come over and say hi.” 

     "Well I'm glad you did."  Alex then turned to Sarah, “Roger is an old a friend of mine. We go way back and used to play together.” 

     “You all are really good,” Sarah said appreciatively. 

     “Thank you Sarah. I’m glad you’re enjoying the show.” 

     "How are you?” Alex asked. 

     “I’ve been better. Janet and I broke up a few months back and she wants a divorce.” 

     “I’m sorry to here that,” came his sympathetic reply. “If there is anything I can do…” 

     “I don’t think there is anything anyone can do. She’s set on the divorce.” 

     “Roger, you know that’s not true.” 

     “I don’t know Alex, I really screwed up this time and think I may have run out of graces with God…but I don’t want to spoil your fun by getting into it now and I do have to get back. I tried calling you a few times and even stopped by a few years back but was told you had moved away.” 

     “I did, but I’m back now. Do you have a pen so I can give you my new number?” 

     Roger searched his pocket for a pen and came up empty, although Sarah had reached in her purse and pulled one out, along with a piece of paper.  

     “Thanks Alex, I’ll call you soon. Hey, do you still play?” 

     “Funny you should ask, I was just telling Sarah how I used to play and have been meaning to get back into it.” 

     “You should, you were good. We’ll have to play together again, for old times' sake.” 

     “No Roger, you were good, although I could hold my own.  We should play together, may be just what I need to get started again.” 

     “Well, I need to start heading back. It was nice to meet you Sarah. I hope to see the two of you again soon.” 

     Alex and Sarah then returned to their spot. “It’s a shame about him and his wife.”　

     “It is. The lifestyle of a musician can very challenging. Being in the spotlight with plenty of admirers can be a heady thing. It’s one of the reasons why I left it behind but I don’t think it’s that easy for Roger. It’s what he really loves while I had my heart set on the police academy.” 

     “I can see how that can be a problem,” Sarah noted, then asked, “Can we really run out of graces with God?” 

     “I don’t believe that. There is a time reserved for such things, but until then I see it more along the lines of reaping what we sow. God does give us his grace and I do believe it is available to us even in our mistakes, but it isn’t something we should abuse. We are the ones that trade in his grace for our own way and as a loving Father he will allow us to reap what we sow in the hopes that we will turn from our destructive ways and return to Him. He has so much more for us than we even know, but we don't always believe it.” 

     "I've known a few people that did that.  It seemed to me they didn't see the grace of God properly and thought they could do whatever they wanted without any consequences.  Now they are struggling with addictions," Sarah sadly shared. 

     "There are some believers that think it is a free ticket to indulge our flesh when it is actually an equipping to live out holy lives by the Lord's power instead of our own.  As we discussed the other day, we still have freewill, the difference now is that believers are equipped by the Holy Spirit to walk in the Spirit so that they won't fulfill the lust of their flesh.  Unfortunately, we can discover the reality of this when we find ourselves entangled in sin once again.  It is a hard lesson learned when it is learned this way."  

     "Yes it is," she agreed.  "I don't understand how they could think that.  Jesus didn't die so that we can continue in our old ways." 

     "You're right Sarah.  Another problem is that we don't consider how sin has far-reaching effects beyond ourselves and God is perfectly loving and just in allowing us to reap what we sow.  I don't know how many times I have heard others say that their sin only effects them...we only have to look at where it all began, the garden of eden, to see how corrupt and destructive to humanity sin really is.  Just like a seed that has been planted and nutured, in time it will be apparent when it grows, bears bad fruit, and multiplies." 

 Part XLI:  A Genuine Proverbs 31 Woman