Almost Didn't....

On Thursday, I went to my FIRST Christian Rock Concert, which by the way almost DIDN’T happen and I had the TIME OF MY LIFE!!!!

I went with my two close friends (Nancy & Narita) to go see, Dara MacLean, Jason Castro and For King & Country (Luke & Joel Smallbone)!

But before I tell you about the amazing concert, let me begin with the ALMOST didn’t happen part…..

I sat patiently waiting at the circle for Nancy to get out of class so we take an hour and 45 minute ride to Montgomery, NY for the Respect and Honor Concert Tour with Dara MacLean, Jason Castro and For King & Country. As I sat I quietly reflect on how I have been looking forward to this concert for weeks. This concert symbolized so much for me. For one it would be my FIRST Christian Rock Concert, Second It will be something I would be doing for myself in a VERY LONG TIME; third, it’s a release from a lot of stress and sorrow I have been going through and feeling, finally and most importantly another chance to praise my Lord & savior Jesus Christ!

Nancy makes it to the circle and into my Mazda and we are off to Montgomery. On the ride down, we talk and laugh and listen to For King and Country’s album Crave.  Crave expresses my inner thoughts of the sadness I have been feeling but mostly the love and journey I am taking towards my FATHER! I already know this concert is going to be AMAZING and life changing.

I reach out to my close friend Narita, reminding her about the concert and making sure she has the address to the location. Finally, we are in Montgomery and full of energy and excitement as we reached the Good Will Church parking lot. We arrive an hour before the concert yet the parking lot was oddly barren with only has 7 cars in the parking lot and unlit church. We wonder what was going on….we park and watched one of the 7 cars drive up a small dirt road. We decided to leave the car parked and go on foot to see where the car headed. After following the car, we realize we parked at the “old” Good Will Church building parking lot. I send Nancy to go on line and get tickets and I walked back to get my car to park at the proper location. As I am pulling into the “new” Good Will Church parking lot, Nancy is calling me. I picked up and with a somber voice Nancy tells me that the show is SOLD OUT! I huge sadness comes over me as I hear these words. Right at that moment, the parking attendant directs me to parking on the lawn and I inform him I just found out that the show is sold out. The attendant replies sorry and directs me towards the exit. I tell Nancy to meet me at the end of the parking lot and we hang up.

Nancy slowly walks over to my car with a frown upon her face and opens the door and sits in the passenger seat. Nancy explains that there were signs on the doors stating the show was sold out. She then explains that she still proceeded to talk to a person inside and they apologized and said tickets have been sold out since 5:30pm today. My heart sunk because we arrived in Montgomery at 6pm. I pick up my phone to call Narita to inform her that the concert is sold out. Narita’s phone goes straight to voicemail so we decided to wait until Narita arrives at the concert before heading back home.

As we sit in the car waiting for Narita, we watch tons of people walk into the doors of the Good Will Church for the concert. I sit fidgeting and can’t take it anymore and express to Nancy that I can’t just give up like this, I have to try to see if we can get in and hear the NO for myself. It’s 10 minutes until show time and we walk to the church’s front doors. One of the parking attendants with a great amount of joy in his voices says “Enjoy the concert ladies. We say, thank you with a little sadness in voices.

We proceed to the front doors and I see the signs that say SOLD Out. I open the doors and there are people collecting tickets. I look around and see that there is a merchandise booth and turn to Nancy and say “if anything we can at least buy souvenirs”.  I say good evening to a ticket collector and say “I know you guys are sold out but is it possible that we can at least come in and buy souvenirs?” The collector responses “Do you need tickets?” I can’t believe my ears, so I responses with surprise and wonder in my voice” You have tickets??? The collector state let me check. I look at Nancy with saucer sized eyes. The collector calls a gentleman over and he says to me how many tickets do you need….My eyes grew even bigger and unfortunately I have forgotten about poor Narita and say TWO!!!! The lovely gentleman says here you go and hands me 2 Respect and Honor tickets! I start to reach for my purse and he says don’t worry about it, it's on me. I said Thank you so much sir. And Nancy and I jump up and down and hug. I then say to Nancy, “GOD knew I NEEDED this! TO GOD BE THE GLORY and I GIVE HIM ALL THE HONOR & PRAISE”!  Right at the moment, I remember Narita. I exhale and walk over to a ticket collector and say I don’t want to push my luck …the woman responses try me hon….I proceed to explain that a friend is on her way to the concert and we were wondering if there is another ticket left. The woman states let me check. After 10 minutes, they find a ticket and I pay 10 dollars for it and leave it at the door for Narita. I text Narita informing her, we got into the SOLD OUT concert and there is a ticket waiting for her at the door. The vocals of the group Heaven & Earth begin to open up the show and Nancy and I walk in to find our seats for the Respect and Honor Christian Concert. I say again GOD BE THE GLORY!