Adults Only Means....oh!

So remember those fun churches mentioned in the article last post? We passed one coming home tonight and found the marquee advertising "79 saved. Thank you Jesus!" I can hear some going, 'wow, what a blessing!' Oh, well, "for good or ill..." I suppose. I shall leave it alone, since my conscience keeps convicting me that I'm not sovereign. This is a fact with much evidence behind it. Today's overwhelming evidence is my inability to keep from sustaining injury should I choose to participate in any athletic activity. My back is tied in a fun little monkey's fist because I didn't get stretched out enough before judo yesterday evenin'. Hopefully though, morning will find me somewhat healed. Driving today has been fun because of that though - especially checking my blind spots.

Kat and I are going to a Third Day concert that we won tickets to. I'm not really up on Third Day anymore (in fact, I can't even type it - I keep typing 'thrid'). I quit listening to them after Offerings 1. Actually, the last I really got into them was Time (really reminiscent of some obscure Hootie and the Blowfish song). That's been a while in the album-release scheme of things, so I'm not sure if it will be interesting at all to us (Kat hasn't paid much attention in a while either), but it's probably going to be infinitely better than the thing I was planning to take her to tomorrow night. Let me stress was and I'll explain it. There's a festival in town with some fringe theatre stuff going on. This doesn't necessarily mean the modern equivalent of the debut of Waiting for Godot (which I thoroughly LOVED), it just means that the groups will be performing pieces that they wouldn't do for a mainstream audience. Okay, no sweat. So my naive little mind thought that the Circle Modern Dance Company's performance of Bare Necessities for Adults was going to be something of a political statement. After all, that's what the article said. But tonight, after reading another small blurp, we found out that it was actually for adults only......scratch that, Adults Only. So........yeah. We're not going. Kat thought that they might look at me funny for bringing my wife to a strip show anyway. I told her the only way we could get away with it was if we wore all black and she wore a scarf and we looked artsy and talked in smoky laid back voices about nothing in particular. But safe to say, we're not going. Avoiding mental scarring and stupefying embarassment... check.

But rewind back to this morning, when I did see a good show. I was at Andy's house attempting to recuperate from my judo injuries and recruit him in a trip to a downtown photo gallery. But before leaving, we watched a good portion of U2 in their live concert DVD Go Home. The whole thing was recorded in front of probably 200,000 people at Slane Castle in County Meath, Eyre. That's Slane, you know, the hill from which St. Patrick lit the Pascal fire in blatant opposition to the powerful pagan king. The tune name to Be Thou My Vision, or Robh tu Mo Bhaile, depending on your linguistic persuasion. That's right, Slane. And I can't begin to convey to you the power behind this concert, even translated to me through the smallness of a 20-inch screen with minimal sound. Andy got chills, I got entranced, it was unbelievable, and we marvelled at the elements of that intimate audience/performer connection. Perhaps it's more passion than I have recently given it credit as being. I have a difficult time expressing as much passion as I would like through my voice, though, without losing the pitch and tone that I find so important in the music I sing. I suppose a greatly heightened decibel level might free me up a bit though. I do remember that high from playing in front of the kids at Irmo, SC. 80 kids in a room and when we got that driving beat going and some power behind it, man they fed us with energy like you wouldn't believe. So, latest recommendations are that U2 DVD Go Home and also Andrew Bird's Weather Systems. Just got it today and I've found something new to rave about.

I read some Psalms this morning at Starbucks while getting drugged....eh, caffeinated, and I saw them in a whole new way. Try looking at David as a master storyteller and give 'em another go. If you need a good example, listen to a cd of the late great Shel Silverstein reading his children's poetry. I could just see David holding a bunch of kids captive with his voice and his eyes and telling of the victories of the God of Jacob. My favorite part was him yelling to the surrounding land, "Why, oh sea, did you flee? Why, oh Jordan, did you turn back? Why, oh mountains did you skip like rams and the hills like lambs?" Then I can see him get quiet and lean in, speaking slowly. "Let the earth tremble at the presence of the God of Jacob."

Hallelu Jah