Mandy and I were planning on attending Winter Jam, a tour of several popular Christian artists/bands, in celebration of my birthday last Saturday. Two of my very favorite bands were going to be playing: Kutless and Sidewalk Prophets. I was pumped; we'd been planning on attending WJ for over a month. We got to the arena a half hour early only to find out that the entire concert was SOLD OUT and they would absolutely not let anyone else in. We were bummed, but I was not going to be deterred that easily. I made Mandy walk around the building twice and each door we came to I tried to either flirt or flatter my way into the concert. After about 40 min of walking around outside in the 45 degree weather and with no apparent hope of gaining entrance, we began to walk towards our car. Just then, however, I saw a guy walking around to the back of the building and he was carrying a guitar in his hands...this had to be a musician from one of the bands playing tonight, I thought to myself! I left Mandy in the dust and ran to catch up with him, hoping he'd be able to give me some help. Perhaps we could stick around or come back after the show and meet some of the guys?? Perhaps he had secret backstage passes he'd give me if I smiled enough??
To my amazement, the guy I'd run down was Shawn, one of the members of the band Sidewalk Prophets. I told him that I liked his band very much and I was bummed that the concert was sold out. I asked him where they were in the line-up and to my dismay he told me that the SPs had already played and that I'd missed them! Nuts!! Just as I was about to ask him if there was any chance of me getting into the concert through a "secret" entrance, he told me that he and the rest of the band were going to play for the crowd of people who had been turned away once the concert sold out.
Mandy caught up to us just as Shawn and I reached the area where the band was going to sing. The SPs sang to us for over a half hour in the freezing cold. Dave, their lead singer, prayed before singing and then told the crowd that they sing in order to glorify God and that if we'd come out to see this concert then by-golly we were going to get to hear some music, even if it was outside and with just them and their guitars! Mandy and I got a chance to meet all of the guys from the band and chatted with them while they signed autographs and took pictures. I told Justin, the band's drummer, that it was my birthday and that I'd really love to hear them sing "You Love Me Anyway," one of their hit singles. And do you know what? He grabbed the rest of the guys and they sang that song right then and there for me (and for everyone else who was still listening). All of the guys were incredibly personable and kind, engaging Mandy and I in conversation about medical school, life in Mobile, college in Birmingham (where they had actually performed the night before)...all in all, they spent about an hour outside with us before retiring to their bus.
After the SPs left, Chris August, another popular Christian artist, came out and sang to the group for a bit. By this time, the concert had been going on for over an hour and a half, and some people were starting to leave. As people left the concert the ushers started letting people from the crowd outside into the concert. Mandy and I made it in right before the concert's intermission. We had missed all but the last two bands for the evening....but God is good and He had our backs -- the second-to-last band to play was Kutless (my other fav)! That's right, we got to meet the SPs AND hear them sing up close and personal AND we still got to see Kutless perform. What a great night!!
The story just goes to show you that God has a plan, He knows all and He works it all out for our good. Ok, so this is a silly little example. Not a life-changing encounter or anything like that, but to me it still had God's hand written all over it. After all, He is Sovereign!
Here's a link to their song "You Love Me Anyway."
I highly recommend their CD, "These Simple Truths." It's fantastic.
T-shirt that I got for my Papa, who loves to collect random T's. Story behind the fish: Dave (lead singer) wrote this song; he told us that he wrote it thinking back on his childhood, when he killed his pet goldfish Mortimer. He was 4 at the time and was told by his parents that what he had done was wrong and that it had made God sad. But he was also told that God loves him anyway, despite his shortcomings and failures. Now, however many years later, "You Love Me Anyway" is the song that resulted from Mortimer's untimely death.
No comments:
Post a Comment