Mercy me.....

On Sunday night Russ and I attended the Mercy Me concert. It was so good and I have a zillion thoughts swirling around in my head so just sharing a few.

First, the opening musicians were a guy named Micah Taylor who I thought I had never heard of until he sang a few of his songs and I was like….yeah…I know who you are.

He was funny and talented and humble and it could have been a show right there and we would have been content. Turns out he is from Austin which just made me love him even more.

Next was Crowder.

I did know who he is and I know a few of his songs but I was unprepared for how fun and delightful he would be.

If you are like me, and I pray for your sake you are not, when I hear a singer I tend to develop a mental image of him or her in my head. Sometimes I am spot on and sometimes I am like….wwwwwhhhhhhaaaaatttttttt????

My first visual of Crowder a few years ago was like, uh no. I don’t know who this guy is, but I am looking for the musician named David Crowder.

But yes…the guy who looks like a cousin to the Duck Dynasty folks.

That’s really him.

And if you are like me, and again…my prayers abound that you are not….I tend to ascribe a personality to a visual.

And I was not really sure what personality to ascribe to the visual of David Crowder, but after literally worshiping with him, his band and half of the arena in Champaign for over an hour…he has found a place in my heart amongst the good ones.

He is so funny, so unassuming and so crazy talented. Again…if that had been all there was to the concert, it would have been enough.

Then Mercy Me came out and at first I was not sure.

They had an impressive graphic deal going behind them as they went through about three of their well known songs. The lighting was extremely cool…I know that is a lame description but the only way I can express it.

And after the lack of bells and whistles that the first two sets had involved, I was cynical.

I don’t need slick Christianity and I don’t like feeling manipulated into worship.

But after their first few songs, all the hype kind of melted away.

Through conversation and acoustic sets and more of the background creativity and such, it was again more like a worship service than a concert.

I always wonder if people who are on a stage for a living as actors, singers, dancers, and even Christian artists..people who do the same thing over and over lose their enthusiam.

I think about when soloists or bands have a hit and so every single concert and show for the rest of their career they are expected to sing that same song in the same way the audience loves. Do they get sick and tired of doing it? Do they lose their love of the calling?

And I have two thoughts on that:

One is, we all face that challenge on our own small stages. Every single day we get up and do the thing we were called to do.

Every single day, you have to work up the passion and compassion to do your job – to hang in there.

Even when your days are playing on a loop, you have to show up and give it your all and find the reason why you do deep down in your soul and then pour out.

You have to consistently show up and be the person who matters to the people in your realm of influence.

So good on you there, fellow traveler.

Second thought: Bart Willard, lead singer for Mercy Me, answered my question near the end of the concert.

I had forgotten one of my favorite songs was written by him.

He started talking about his days when he doesn’t “feel” like all the things he believes and declares to large audiences and across the airwaves.

Days when he can’t see God working and he doesn’t have that joy down in his heart and it seems like God has abandoned him.

The song he wrote in those times expresses how he can feel like a fake standing up on a stage declaring God’s goodness…

The words echo something we all, even the people whose stories are strung throughout Scripture struggled with….David, Joseph, Ruth, Esther, the three men in the furnace….so many….

I know you’re able and I know you can, save through the fire with your mighty hand….but even if you don’t….
“Even If” by Bart Millard

That’s what faith is.

Whether you are on a tour bus going from city to city…or walking into a corporate office each morning….standing in front of a classroom of kids…or folding the first of ten loads of laundry for the day…prepping someone for surgery…or sitting by the bedside of a love one…

even if He doesn’t appear to have shown up….

our hope is in Him and we will not be disappointed.

Share and Save: