on the outside lookin' in

So I definitely promised a blog post last Sunday…and here it is. I are not disciplined. Oh wells.


What I wanted to tell you all about was the interesting experience I had at a concert (sort of).

My friends invited me to see their friend, Charlie Hall, and his band. If you don’t know them and like Christian music, you should check ‘em out.

I knew we were going to see them, but I had no idea what kind of set up/venue. We walked in to First Baptist Denton, and it immediately felt like a conference. That may partly be because the only other time I’ve seen the Charlie Hall Band was at Focus, a conference for college students from BSM’s all over Texas.

This conference, which I later found out was actually a regular Sunday night deal at this church and Charlie’s band just happened to be special guest for the evening, was called “Overflow.” There was a large-ish group of folks at or around my age there, and it still just seemed like a conference. We walked in after the band started, and it felt like we had missed something (like a speaker or some such).

That, coupled with being there with people who knew the band, made me feel a little disconnected from the whole thing. And it was interesting.

Normally a conference builds, much like camp, and the worship near the end of the conference is much more meaningful, much like camp. It gets you on what those in Christian circles call “the camp high.” This is where powerful music, inspiring teaching, and a flood of emotions causes you to feel extra sensitive to everything going on. And this is how I normally walk in to the ending worship at a conference.

And this is exactly how I didn’t walk in this time. This time I was still dealing with my own junk, and still feeling the weight of my own pain, and hadn’t quite put my focus on God. That’s why it was so interesting. Some of the songs we sang were songs I’d sung with plenty of fervor before, and I just wasn’t “feeling it” right away.

But I think that’s good. I think that’s a little more “real.”

Not that I have a problem with conferences and camps. I don’t. They can be, and are, life changing for many people. It is not the fault of the conference that we are too weak to stick with something that we claim to feel so strongly about. It’s just that this “real” experience was nice. I wish it had gone on a little longer.

I guess – and I’m just fleshing this out as I write – that we should try to make all of these experiences more “real.” Don’t get too caught up in the “camp high.” Remember what God has forgiven you of, and know that that’s why you are praising Him. He loves us when we are least lovely. He came to heal the sick, not the healthy.

So, that’s all I have to say. I hope it helps you in some way. K…bye now!