Swing Your Partner Dosado (by Nick the Geek)

Like so many of my blogging buddies, I met Nick through Jon Acuff’s site, Stuff Christians Like. Unlike most of my friendships formed from commenting on SCL, my first reaction to Nick was this: He pissed me off. Why? Because Nick once called Oklahoma “home”, and as some folks from Oklahoma tend to do, he takes great joy in making fun of all things Texas. (Jealousy and whatnot.) While I’m not originally from Texas, there’s something about this place that gets into your heart and never leaves. So when someone makes fun of her, well, them’s fighting words! But here’s the thing – I can’t help but like Nick. He’s like the punky little brother I never had. And while I would happily wail on him any chance I could get, if someone were to attack him personally, I would be the first to defend him.

He is a youth pastor in parts unknown (I know where he lives, but that’s not for public consumption.) He is a husband, a father, a true geek, and a master of sarcasm and dry wit. Above all, he has a heart for people. Specifically, people who have yet to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. So, even though I will tease him mercilessly until my dying day, just between you and me, I think he’s pretty special. (Just don’t tell him I said that, because I will deny it.)

Here’s Nick on the dance of teen dating:

I doubt katdish will understand the amount of research I had to put into this post. Being from Texas, I assume she knows all about square dancing and what all the calls mean. I don’t know these things so I had to look them up.

Why was it so important to know about Square Dancing? Well, so I can understand the dating habits of teens.

It seems the most popular game right now in my Youth group is musical dating. As I began to study the changes in the couples, it seemed that they were following strange and mesmerizing patterns. The patterns felt familiar and then it occurred to me. Square Dancing!

Of course, there is some unknown caller commanding the teens to change partners and form new patterns. It is the only reasonable explanation for why a smart girl would start dating a guy that she hated just days before because of the way he treated her friend, and why she would blindly go through the dance moves until he switched to another corner with yet another girl.
Of course in square dancing the partners end up back together in the end, but with the rhythmic changes of the teen couples the end is only heart break until the next pairing is made.

While this particular dance is fascinating to watch it does concern me. My sister calls it “practicing for divorce.” I think she may be right. When we train our heart to be broken so readily then to be repaired by a new partner then we will rely on that training. Marriage is about opening your heart to someone and that means heartache and even heart break. If we have trained ourselves to find solace in others then we will complete the cycle.

I think this is one of the major reasons why marriages fail so readily in America.

Of course, the question arises, how do we deal with this dance?

For more from Nick, check out his blog, My Experiences as a Youth Pastor. Be sure to check out the Super Youth Pastor posts. Those are awesome.