Concert Junkie

Saturday, April 19, 2008

I admit it. I am a concert junkie.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

I was raised around music. My dad blaring the oldies station always saying, “Guess who sings this?” The answer always being ‘The Guess Who’ of course. Music continued in my life when I started taking piano lessons in the 2nd grade right until I graduated high school.

So, music has a special place in my heart. I understand it. I live it. I play it. I admire it. I appreciate it. I love it.

So…concerts are just amazing for me. My heart pumps a little faster and I could probably stay and listen forever. Really, I could.

These past two weeks or so, I’ve been to SIX concerts. Wonderful isn’t it? Although #2-4 were at Passion conference, they most certainly count because they all rock and led worship unbelievably. Click on their name to get a little taste of some of their songs:

1. Steve Fee…awesome praise songs. Check him out.
2. David Crowder Band….A-MA-ZING. They played a keytar. Doesn’t get much cooler than that.
3. Chris Tomlin….God of this City, so powerful.
4. Charlie Hall….bald and brilliant
5. Casting Crowns….need I say more
6. Jason Mraz….the only non-Christian singer of the six. But one of my favorites if not my #1. I wrote about one of his songs here and then I got to hear him perform it live just last night!! It was awesome.

The Jason Mraz concert was fun for me. I pretty much know every word to every song, so I sang along. We literally stood for over four hours to watch the concert. I almost couldn’t walk out. It was soooo fun though. He’s such an artist, every string of words that comes out of his mouth are so poetic.

All the concerts I’ve been to have been so different from one another. All the musicians so unique and individual. Here is a list of artists who I’ve seen in concert at some point (don’t judge me on some of these):

PlusOne
Jaci Velasquez
Relient K
Toby Mac
DecembeRadio
Good Charlotte
Simple Plan
3 Doors Down
Alterbridge
The Fray
MuteMath
Blue Man Group
Derek Webb
Florez
Josh Kelly
Former backstreet boy Brian Litrill
Avalon
Shinedown
Third Day
Sanctus Real
Leeland

I hope this list continues to grow and maybe I can put check marks by some of them to say I’ve seen them twice.

One group I absolutely MUST see in concert: Keane. Let me know if hear of them coming within a 300-mile radius of me. I’ll be there.

I would actually love to work within the music industry. I really feel God has given me this passion for a reason. I also know he has given me talents of writing and being creative. So perhaps a little work with marketing or promotions might be in order…YEY for my IMC major!

Here are some pictures from the a few concerts:

The Fray:
Aimee, my concert buddy, and me watching the Fray:

Derek Webb:
Jason Mraz:
Caston Crowns:
David Crowder:

Downtown, things will be great when you're Downtown

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

So on with New Orleans stories…I promise I’ll bring back Tune Tuesday next week. Don’t fret.

Downtown New Orleans was probably the “Frenchest” town within the United States. Needless to say, I loved it. It reminded me of the narrow streets I discovered in Verona or the colorful buildings of Monaco. The buildings were colorful and each one had a unique balcony. One restaurant even had a balcony with tables where people were eating! Fun! The lovely architecture of each building created such a rare atmosphere in this lovely city.

And of course on each street corner, there was some type of musician. So any where that you walked, there was some type of music playing. It was magnificent. You know I loved that.

The famous Café Du Monde...how can I describe this…maybe God’s little piece of Heaven on Earth. It’s the original French market coffee stand in New Orleans. Basically it’s a large patio with maybe 50-100 tables with chairs. All you do is sit down, wait for a waitress, and chose something from the menu that only includes about 4 things. There coffee is called café au lait which is half hot coffee and half hot milk. You can get this iced, hot, or frozen (which was my favorite). And then…the famous beignets. A square piece of dough, fried, and covered with powder sugar. Need I say more? We had many many powdered sugar fights. Check out their site (linked where I first mentioned it) for ordering instructions and even how to make beignets!!

We also saw a crazy break-dancing show right in the middle of the French Quarter next to Café Du Monde. That was fun.

A group of us did go down Bourbon Street…but I would rather not describe it. It was interesting and somewhere I probably don’t need to see again. But, check it off the list of places to see.

A few pretty buildings: Eating on the balcony: Street musician: Cafe Du Monde:

New Orleans Style Church

Sunday, April 6, 2008

It’s been a while. I apologize; I had an incredibly busy week.

On with New Orleans stories.

Carver Desire Street Baptist Church. What an absolutely encouraging, exciting, fun place. My mission group of 15 headed out to our church. We were in a neighborhood that looked completely deserted, yet on one street corner was a small pink building that was pumping with life.

We walked in, the only white people in the entire church, and I just had a feeling it was going to be awesome. I wanted to put on one of the beautiful hats all the ladies had on! Everyone was chatting, laughing, and smiling with one another.

It was a packed house, probably around 150 people there. I was so curious to where all these people lived and how far they traveled to get to this church.

Then the service started. Song after song after song filled the room. There was a young man on the drums, an older gentleman with snakeskin boots on the bass, and a man on an electric keyboard. The men’s choir was singing today. It consisted of about 12 men and one boy about 7 years old.

So at one point one speaker, I’m not sure if he was the preacher or deacon or what, he said he asked the keyboardist about 10 minutes before the service to play just any song for the service today. The keyboardist announced he hadn’t ever played or sang this song, but felt like God was urging him to sing it…and let me tell you…it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. I got chill pumps on the first note that came out of his mouth. He really relied on God and God fully prepared him.

Then finally the sermon started. I honestly don’t remember what passage he preached on, all I know is in the span of about 2 minutes, the preacher went from speaking to dancing, praising God, lifting his hands, and speaking with God.

It was awesome. It was so exciting to see the excitement he had for the word of God. One quote we just loved from the sermon:

“He might not come when you want him, but God is always on time!”

At the very end of the service they had an altar call for anyone to make decisions or take prayer requests. Well, the little boy who sang in the men’s choir decided to accept Jesus. The preacher asked him several questions in front of the congregation and that little boy was sharp!

Then the prayer requests started. There were about 4 individuals with requests. It was so heart-warming to see the family and community of Christians who were there for each other and accountable to one another. The young drummer said he was getting into trouble with his parents. Now the preacher didn’t sugarcoat anything, he was honest and told the boy that it was up to him to make the right decisions. Love it. A woman announced she just had cancer. Our favorite quote, possibly of the entire trip, came out of this…

“If you can have it, God can heal it!”

That’s how the service ended, the bishop yelling this out after his prayer and the congregation went crazy! It was so fun.

But the moment of the service that really impacted me was the last prayer request/praise. The man described his previous situation: he was rebuilding his home after Katrina a year or so ago. Two men were helping him in the rebuilding, but they actually took his money and left during the middle of the job leaving the man with no money and half a home. Several months later another man offered to help the man for a very generous price. Somehow the homeowner was able to gradually pay this man with money he didn’t know where was coming from and he invited him to church. They are now friends. So, several years later his house is finally being completed.

This man was so thankful for this second man that came by to help with his home. Honestly, if it was me, I would be so frustrated, mad, angry, and sad at this situation. Losing my home twice and losing money, but this man was giving praise because he felt so blessed. He said he was blessed. Wow. Really?

How dare I ever forget how blessed I am. I often find myself trying to feel sorry for myself because I don’t have certain things. How dare I. It was encouraging to hear this man’s story of how God has used his brokenness to ultimately bless him and others, including me with this story.

The service ended, about 2 and a half hours later (although I didn’t look at my watch once) and I could have stayed there for another if my stomach was roaring with hunger.

Here is the church:

Here is our group after the service:

Here is one example of what houses looked like around the church:

Brokenness

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Our first trip into the 9th ward was indescribable. We rode around different neighborhoods because we were early for our church service on Sunday (I’ll blog about that later!).

All 15 of us in our van were completely silent. I mean dead silence. We didn’t have anything to say. We were overwhelmed with what we were seeing.

Every house was empty; we could literally see through all the houses because they were all gutted and empty inside. However, the yards and porches were filled with left over belongings like teddy bears, lawn furniture, clothing etc.

It literally just looked like it happened two weeks ago. That’s unacceptable. I felt as if the hurricane just came through, tossed everything around, and the families weren’t back yet. I was hoping everyone was going to come back next week and clean up their homes, but then I remembered this happened almost three years ago and that probably wasn’t going to happen, ever.

There were large X’s on all the houses (pictured below) with numbers all around it. We later learned what they all meant. The date was on the top and the bottom number was the number of dead bodes found inside the home. It was very eerie when we passed one home that had a six on the bottom.

I didn’t cry while passing through the neighborhood because I think I was still processing everything (however, I did later in the week, which I’ll write about later).

We thought the area was deserted until we pulled up to Carver Desire Street Baptist, which believe me was full of life. I titled this entry brokenness because that’s exactly what I saw and that’s what the speaker of our nightly worship services spoke on…more on that later too. This isn't even the worst part, we did visit that area and that will come later.

Here are some pictures that we experienced:

Leaving on a Jet Plane...Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again

Monday, March 24, 2008

So I promised some good stuff from New Orleans…I journaled a little bit while I was there, just listing some things I saw around me. So I guess I’ll just go in order of some things I listed.

I never thought I would be like this, but I absolutely love to travel and discover new places. When I was a child and growing up I always loved being at home, just hanging with my family. I remember several times calling my parents while at a friend’s house for a sleepover claiming I was “sick.” When I entered the youth group at my church I started going on mission trips and traveling a little bit, but I was always really nervous when I stepped onto the van or plane.

This past summer I had an amazing opportunity to travel around Europe. Even as I entered the airport and kissed my parents goodbye, I remember thinking to myself, “why am I doing this? What was I thinking?” But then on my last night, I found myself wanting to stay because there was soooo much more I wanted to see.

Entering into New Orleans was amazing. As everyone else on our van talked with each other, I found myself glaring out the window trying to take a mental picture of every tree and every building that was different than what I’m used to.

I wanted to jump out of the van and run down every street (including Bourbon street, which I did, on St. Patrick’s Day—wow), try every restaurant, and go in every single shop.

I love unique places, which explains my love of historic downtowns; New Orleans; Florence, Italy; Amsterdam and even Beaufort. I love discovering and exploring these places. I hope I can continue to do so and stop being so nervous about taking that first step.

Now I know that once I do take that first audacious, courageous step, it’ll totally be worth it. But sometimes it’s hard, stressful, and nerve-racking…but I know the end prize is amazing and wonderful and I'll continue to chase after that.

**Pictured above is a blurry picture of the extremely long bridge ride into New Orleans**

What's to Come

Saturday, March 22, 2008

I just got back from New Orleans Thursday, I spent 6 days there doing different mission work with basically 14 strangers whom I absolutely love and miss now.

When I heard God speak to me about 10 different times within the first 24 hours we were in New Orleans, before we even started the actual work, I knew the trip was going to be amazing.

Needless to say, I could probably blog about New Orleans and what I learned from it for an entire year. So, that's what you'll be getting. I just want to share some of the things God showed me while I was there.

Tantalizing Totally Tite Terrific Tune Tuesday

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Go.

Song: Little House
Artist: The Fray
Album: How to Save a Life

First of all, the piano parts in this song are amazing: Beautiful and serene at the beginning and then to a tenser, anxious tone as the song progresses. Gorgeous.

I don’t even remember listening to this song when I first bought this album, but when I was driving back to Winthrop from home I stumbled across it, and I’m so glad I did! It’s a little more rock-sounding than the rest of the songs on the album, but you’ve got to listen to it! It will definitely move you.

It’s obviously about a girl who is struggling with something and she is trying to fix it all on her own:

She doesn't look, she doesn't see
Opens up for nobody
Figures out, she figures out

Narrow line, she can't decide
Everything short of suicide

Then the quietness of the song ends, and madness happens. It talks about something we maybe did in our past that we can’t let go, we just keep stumbling across it. I think we all have something like that:

Something is scratching it's way out
Something you want to forget about

Maybe we are the only one that knows about the particular situations:

A part of you that'll never show
You're the only one that'll ever know
Take it back when it all began

But, then when the chorus is repeated, it adds a few extra lines and the tone the singer uses really sounds like something scratching to get out, it really is brilliant:

Something is scratching it's way out
Something you want to forget about
No one expects you to get up
All on your own with no one around

Huh…I think they are implying that we are never alone, there is always someone to help us out with a problem and forgive us for what we’ve done. Maybe The Fray didn’t particularly mean God, but that is how I interpret it.

It’s a wonderful feeling that we don’t have to struggle our way through life alone, but instead God is there waiting for us to ask for help and guide us along. We don’t have to suffer and allow things to “scratch” inside of us.

I think this is my new favorite song (at least for this week). It’s short and to the point. Please click the above link and listen.

End.