Good evening everyone! I hope that you all had a great week. I know that many of you are about to go on, are already on, or already had your Spring Break and I hope that it goes/went well! Anyway, now to the big highlight of the week...
On Saturday the 21st I went to Chris Tomlin's Love Ran Red concert where Rend Collective and Tenth Avenue North also performed! This took place at the Patriot Center, which is part of George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. My friend of the family was gracious enough to take me to this performance and he is also a fan of Chris Tomlin. This was the first Christian concert that I ever went to and they set the bar really high for all future Christian concerts that I attend. I had never seen so many believers gathered together before and it was amazing to be a part of it. I will try not to give away too many details since I know that tomorrow the Love Ran Red tour will be in Minneapolis and I don't know if any of you are going to the performance or not. If for some reason you live near Minneapolis but aren't going, I can tell you that you're missing out on some great music.
All of the musicians were absolutely fantastic! Rend Collective started the show with a lot of energy and we audience members got to engage in a bit of Irish chicanery by jumping in the stands. Since St. Patrick's Day was on the 17th, they said "you're welcome" to the audience for enjoying the holiday. (Rend Collective is from Ireland, which is something I didn't know until that night.) Tenth Avenue North took the stage next and they played some music from their newest album Cathedrals as well as some of their older songs. Lead singer Mike Donehey actually went in among the crowds for a portion of one of the songs. Then Chris Tomlin at last performed a mixture of songs from his newest album, Love Ran Red, and some of his most well-known songs over the years. At one point of the concert, Chris Tomlin asked the audience who had attended a performance of his before and who was attending their first one that night. To those of us who it was our first time at a concert of his, he asked, "Where have you been?" We all laughed. There was also a bit of a Q&A session and we found out Chris Tomlin's opinion on Chipotle and the background behind "Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)" among a few other things. By the time everything was over, I wished that the night went longer.
Now I know that people can have these spiritual high moments, whether it's a Christian concert, a Prepare retreat, or a week at a Bible camp, and then they're scared that they will end up no better off than they were before. Unfortunately that does happen sometimes because the daily routine of life sets in again and then that event fades into our memories as something cool that happened, but it doesn't end up propelling us forward to have a closer relationship with God. So then the big question is how to prevent ourselves from sliding back into the way things were before such an event. After thinking about this for many years, I think I may have an answer to that question...
We have to put in effort in order to dive deeper and know God's heart better. If we don't actively work to make ourselves better people than we were before the spiritual high event happened, then it is only natural to return to old habits after a period of time. The same principle is true when it comes to friendships, athletics, music, or anything else that requires effort in order to cause improvement. Matthew 26:41 talks about how we are to watch and pray so we don't fall into temptation because while the spirit may be willing, the body is weak. However, we're human, which means there will be times where we stumble. This does not mean we are to give up because of our shortcomings and weaknesses. If anything, this means that we need to ask God to come alongside us in our efforts to come closer to Him for even though we may not be able to do it by our own strength, with God ALL things are possible when we seek Him and abide in Him. What this effort looks like can vary from person to person and season to season, but it can be anything from meditating more on God's Word, to spending more time in prayer, to having a jar where each day a blessing is put in the jar. No matter how the effort manifests itself, God is glad that we want to know Him better since He loves us and enjoys when we choose to spend time with Him.
Well, hopefully this post will be some good food for thought until I post again next week. In the meantime, enjoy your week!
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