But I digress. And oh so easily it seems these days.
Soooooo, our time out at Lifelight was A-W-E-S-O-M-E. And by awesome, I mean there are times I still get tears in my eyes when I think of some of the moments that touched my heart in its innermost parts. The delicate things that God used throughout the weekend to get right into my deepest parts; those spots that feel like they will burst if any more love is injected into them.
I'm not sure whether to give a play-by-play or an overall highlights kind of thing. Of course the play-by-play would be most meaningful to me and would make the most sense. You'd be able to understand what, how and why I get to where I end up. But, I also understand my readers would appreciate not having to read a super long post and would instead prefer the overall hightlights. So, ok readers. You win. Without much fight, might I say.
Actually, I've rewritten this a few times because I'm not sure what to include. Not that I don't have anything to say. But if I say too much, it feels like I'm breaking some sort of code of confidentiality. Not that I'm a doctor or anything. It just feels like there's a secret unspoken code for those who get to go backstage. And that if I break the code, then I won't be allowed backstage anymore. I'd get my license/pass taken away or something. Hopefully that will not be the case. Hopefully I'm just dreaming this up?
So the highlights...
It was interesting to see Remedy Drive backstage....their bus was parked right outside Hubby's 'cave'. Paul has an adorable little girl. Someone has a dog that sat quietly outside the bus most of the evening. I know they had a festival down in Kansas City the next day, but they didn't head out until after 12:30 to start their journey down there. Got to visit with them here and there. Like I said, their trailer was parked RIGHT OUTSIDE Hubby's hangout.
Not much else for highlights for Friday night...since we didn't have Little Man with us that night we decided to stay and watch some of Brian Head Welch's performance. Alex told me later on Saturday that this ended up being a waste of time. I guess he didn't like the "Head's" performance as much as he thought he would? I told him it wasn't a waste of time because he had tried something new and had learned that he didn't care for that type of music. And might I add a 'Woo Hoo' right here for the last little bit at the end of that sentence. I obviously have my own opinions of his music, but I'll keep that quiet here.
Saturday had an interesting start because I got a phone call from Hubby with a list of things to bring out for an artist with a sore shoulder. She was very grateful Hubby knew what to do to help. I wouldn't even mention all this except that if it hadn't been for her shoulder, we may not have gotten to meet her. And, the only picture we have with her is right after Hubby showed her how to use the sling to help nurse it back to normal, so I suppose I should explain that it wasn't a serious injury. We didn't see her in the sling again all weekend.
But her gratitude showed up again later in the day...and this is one of my 'bursting heart' moments. I had brought a few special people back for the Francesca Battistelli set and we were down in front of the stage. The bass speakers are right down there and if you stand in front of them, well...you can't stand in front of them for long. Not without being deafened. Or causing your heart to beat irregularly. My little sweetheart didn't want to stand in front of those and so she waited back in other spot for us. For 4 songs she waited. But, don't feel sorry for her just yet. She was standing over by Kari Jobe.
At one point I wanted to see if she did really want to come up by us but maybe thought there wasn't room or something. I turned around and tried to catch her attention...I was looking into the sun and could hardly see. But Kari was paying attention and nudged Bekah to show her I was motioning for her to come over. When she didn't budge I walked over to ask her if she wanted to join us up close. She didn't because it was too loud - well, and probably because she had a better spot where she was. That image of the two of them standing 'together' with the blinding sun behind them is burned in my brain. As Francesca's set came to a close we walked past Kari on our way out. I stopped to tell her that her time of worship on Saturday afternoon turned me into puddles and as a response, I got a little hug from her. Now the 'burning sun' image turns me into puddles too. BTW, this wasn't the only time we ran into Kari during the weekend - I will just say she is as beautiful as her voice. And I don't mean physically, though she is pretty for sure. I mean soul-beauty. She truly is a woman after God's own heart. Uh oh, here come the puddles again.
Sunday brought adventures of its own. Hubby was busy almost all day. He barely had time to eat or go to the bathroom. He also kept running out of history forms and needing more copies, which we quickly fetched for him. I wasn't expecting much from Sunday because I wasn't sure how long Little Man would last, if he'd get a nap, etc. We did have to run home in the middle of the afternoon to potty the dog and give Little Man a nap in the van. But Sunday did not disappoint. Despite running late in the morning, I still got to see Kari Jobe sing 'Revelation Song' live. That was the only song I'd wanted to see her do - though, 'Healer' on Saturday afternoon delivered plenty of puddles with it's new personalized meaning. Watching her sing that while knowing she was struggling to lift her arm....wow.
A quick note in the middle to mention some of the other random people we got to meet - some members of the Peterson family, a few guys from Remedy Drive, a couple guys from Family Force 5, the Barlow family, various band members from other groups too numerous to list. Alex got to deliver some water to the Family Force 5 bus and fist-pound the lead singer. I thought he was going to burst when he came back to the 'cave'. By the way, I'm too old to type fist-pound. Is it all one word? Is it hyphenated? I really don't know nor do I really care.
And then there was the other heart-piercing moment of the weekend, brought by Becca of BarlowGirl. She sat and visited with my sweetie for quite awhile. And, Barlow Mom got her a free tshirt. AND, the sisters all signed the tshirt (well, and some dude from Family Force 5, but we were quick to snatch that shirt up from the table before any of the other 'Family' dudes signed it haha). Becca was even doting on my Little Man when she was over by the 'cave'. Then, later after their set, when they were just hanging out backstage, they came over to say bye and thanks. Yes, to say thanks to us. To the frumpy mom and her 3 kids. Well, the Hubby was busy of course so they couldn't talk to him. But Bekah got a hug from Becca; there was more doting; and I visited with the other sisters a bit too. Now, because of their kindness my Bekah thinks she's best buds with Becca.
What do I say to that?? How did we get to this place? How did we get to be able to have these experiences? We didn't win a contest. We aren't important in any way. And yet, here we were talking to people we couldn't have imagined we'd get to talk to and were only talking to because of how a series of events played out that brought Hubby backstage to serve in this way a few years ago. And I wondered too - how can these acts of kindness, things so small yet so big at the same time, make my little girl feel so special? Almost more than I can make her feel in a year?
None of this had to happen. There were plenty of worship artists running around backstage that didn't pay any attention to the frumpy mom and her 3 kids. We barely got a 'hi' from most of them. In their defense, they are pretty busy when they're here...interviews, Meet-N-Greets, eating, playing in front of hundreds of thousands of people.
Which is what makes the few we did get to interact with even more special. Because the few that did touch our hearts, they did it with big hearts.
With humility.
With love and kindness.
And for that I am overflowing with gratitude.
And turning into puddles once again.
Who am I?
That the Lord of all the earth, would care to know my name, would care to feel my hurt.
Who am I?
That the bright and morning star, would choose to light the way, for my ever wandering heart.
Not because of who I am, but because of what you've done.
Not because of what I've done, but because of who you are.
I am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow, a wave tossed in the ocean, a vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I'm calling, Lord, you catch me when I'm falling, and you've told me who I am.
I am yours.
(Who Am I? by Casting Crowns)
Pictures from our weekend:
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| Outside Hubby's 'cave' |
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| W/David of Remedy Drive at about 12:15a.m. |
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W/Kari Jobe after Hubby dr'd her up. She didn't wear the sling all weekend in public and I almost hate to post the pic, but that's the only one we were able to get with her.
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Becca and Bekah
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| Bekah and BarlowGirl girls |
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| Coloring outside the 'cave' as Little Man was too noisy and not condusive to a relaxing environment. Like the blasting music coming from the Main Stage all weekend was. |
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| Remedy Drive |
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| Kari Jobe - Saturday afternoon |
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| Worshipper during Kari Jobe - I thought it pretty neat that the burly, cool guy could lift his arm in worship during Kari Jobe. |
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| Even security felt the Spirit during Kari Jobe. |
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| Bassist from Mikeschair |
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| Hubby working hard in his 'cave' |
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| Part of the crowd Sunday evening. It got busier as the evening went on. |
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NeedtoBreathe - I love this pic cuz if you look close you can see he's smiling. He was thoroughly enjoying himself at this point becuz the crowd was pretty worked up. And this was the largest crowd they'd ever played for.
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| The whole reason - for everything. |
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