Spirit West Coast 2006
This weekend, I was a proud visitor of Spirit West Coast, an annual concert for fans of Christian music where they can listen to the top Christian music artists and people who are famous for singing about how much they love God. And yes, believe it or not, you can become popular in mainstream for singing Christian music. I find that fact alone amazing myself, but here it is. There were only three of us on the trip as opposed to the planned five people. One guy couldn’t make it due to summer school and another girl was getting carsick way too easily, so she was out. It was one nice little carpool with me, my girlfriend and a kind young woman from her prayer group who was driving. It took us about 2.5 hours to drive there and, much to my surprise, they allowed video cameras into this event so I’ll be able to create a nice little video from all this.
First off, I’ll say that I didn’t expect the event to be like the county fair, but it was. Along with the stages for the bands, there were plenty of food stands and things of the like. Even though I brought along some drinks, I still overdosed on the junk food at the stands. We set up our blankets and stuff near the main stage and left them there to walk around. I’m still kind of amazed that I left my backpack there and it was completely untouched by anyone else, but hey, it was a Christian event. We got to see a lot of cool stands there, aside from the clothing stands even. Kduvfm.com is a radio station which I now think I just have to give a listen after hearing what they had at their booth. And we also passed by the funniest thing at the stands. You know how there’s those Dance Dance Revolution clones, like the one I asked for for my birthday? Well, there was one of those for sale here, except it was more expensive, it was for the computer errand it played all Christian music. I kid you not, it was a Christian music version of DDR. Not that I don’t like Christian music of course, I went to a Christian music concert, but somehow I find that amusing.
Bands we saw there: First band we saw was Barlowgirl: a band with three pretty girls singing somewhat average Christian music. My girlfriend really likes them though. I did find David Crowder Band to be enjoyable. They warmed up their instruments by playing the Chicken Dance. Very funny. And the last band of the evening, the guys who were actually being featured at the event that evening, the Newsboys rocked out! But that wasn’t really what made the evening special. What made it special was cuddling with the lady under blankets on that lawn to keep warm.
Other than the music, what made a real impact were the speakers. Michael Franzese was an amazing storyteller, a man who was born into one of the biggest mafia families in the United States, raised in a blind faith religious family, become one of the most powerful thugs on the street…But what really saved his soul was not the years he spent in prison to pay for his crimes. What saved him was discovering Christ. Now he tours the country telling his inspirational story to people everywhere and proving that some people really can change their ways. If God can forgive a mafia don and save his soul, then anyone can be saved. Although I still think if they want that, they’ll have to be willing. I’m gonna check out his book “Blood Covenant” when I can, because I swear, the guy’s story had Oscar written all over it.
Comedian Mike Williams was one of the cleanest comics anyone could ever meet. At his website, you’ll be able to see a low quality copy of the shticks he does at various locations. Also one of the funniest live comedians I’ve seen in a while. On top of that, he’s another man who had been saved as well. He lived in a family that was dangerously into drugs and crime and things like that until his mom gave him away for adoption to a family she knew would raise him in a different atmosphere. Once again, folks: God saves.
All in all, the experience was one to remember and both my girlfriend and I can only imagine going there next year to see Stephen Curtis Chapman rock everyone’s socks off…If he shows there next year, that is. On the way home, as I lay with her in the backseat of the car, I thought this was one of the best weekends I could ever have and I hope to have more such experiences with her in the future. If this is being in love, then I can’t wait to explore it more.
And I saved one of the best parts for last: the funniest story happened when I spent the night in her parents’ apartment. I finally got home to bed in their guest room at about 3:30 AM on Sunday morning. After I passed out for a little while I awoke at 4:15 and turned to see that her stepfather had, for some odd reason, decided to join me in bed. He gave me that comical bug-eyed look that he sometimes gives and because of my tiredness, I couldn’t quite yet grasp the weirdness of the situation. But here’s how the basic dialogue went between us:
Him: Hey
Me: Hey
Him: How’s it going?
Me: Fine
Him: The kids got home OK?
Me: Yeah, the girls are downstairs.
Him: Where’s James?
Me: I’m sleeping up here.
Him: I thought James was going to sleep here.
Me: Yeah, the girls are going downstairs, I’m up here.
Him: (Finally realizing who he’s talking to, he jumps out of bed.) JAMES!
Me: Yeah. (We both laugh)
Apparently, he thought I was his wife. I guess I look like her at around 4:15 in the morning under covers, even with a beard. I must remedy that somehow. But seriously, after he left, I spent the next several minutes laughing to myself trying to make sense of the situation. Maybe his wife kicked him out of bed for some reason. It wasn’t until the next evening at the dinner table when my girlfriend was over at my house for dinner that I figured out exactly what happened. His wife, her mom, had left their bed because of his snoring and gone to sleep in her office. He woke up and started looking for her, saw someone under the covers in the guest room and assumed it was her. Priceless.
Wow, what crazy, funny weekend I had.
First off, I’ll say that I didn’t expect the event to be like the county fair, but it was. Along with the stages for the bands, there were plenty of food stands and things of the like. Even though I brought along some drinks, I still overdosed on the junk food at the stands. We set up our blankets and stuff near the main stage and left them there to walk around. I’m still kind of amazed that I left my backpack there and it was completely untouched by anyone else, but hey, it was a Christian event. We got to see a lot of cool stands there, aside from the clothing stands even. Kduvfm.com is a radio station which I now think I just have to give a listen after hearing what they had at their booth. And we also passed by the funniest thing at the stands. You know how there’s those Dance Dance Revolution clones, like the one I asked for for my birthday? Well, there was one of those for sale here, except it was more expensive, it was for the computer errand it played all Christian music. I kid you not, it was a Christian music version of DDR. Not that I don’t like Christian music of course, I went to a Christian music concert, but somehow I find that amusing.
Bands we saw there: First band we saw was Barlowgirl: a band with three pretty girls singing somewhat average Christian music. My girlfriend really likes them though. I did find David Crowder Band to be enjoyable. They warmed up their instruments by playing the Chicken Dance. Very funny. And the last band of the evening, the guys who were actually being featured at the event that evening, the Newsboys rocked out! But that wasn’t really what made the evening special. What made it special was cuddling with the lady under blankets on that lawn to keep warm.
Other than the music, what made a real impact were the speakers. Michael Franzese was an amazing storyteller, a man who was born into one of the biggest mafia families in the United States, raised in a blind faith religious family, become one of the most powerful thugs on the street…But what really saved his soul was not the years he spent in prison to pay for his crimes. What saved him was discovering Christ. Now he tours the country telling his inspirational story to people everywhere and proving that some people really can change their ways. If God can forgive a mafia don and save his soul, then anyone can be saved. Although I still think if they want that, they’ll have to be willing. I’m gonna check out his book “Blood Covenant” when I can, because I swear, the guy’s story had Oscar written all over it.
Comedian Mike Williams was one of the cleanest comics anyone could ever meet. At his website, you’ll be able to see a low quality copy of the shticks he does at various locations. Also one of the funniest live comedians I’ve seen in a while. On top of that, he’s another man who had been saved as well. He lived in a family that was dangerously into drugs and crime and things like that until his mom gave him away for adoption to a family she knew would raise him in a different atmosphere. Once again, folks: God saves.
All in all, the experience was one to remember and both my girlfriend and I can only imagine going there next year to see Stephen Curtis Chapman rock everyone’s socks off…If he shows there next year, that is. On the way home, as I lay with her in the backseat of the car, I thought this was one of the best weekends I could ever have and I hope to have more such experiences with her in the future. If this is being in love, then I can’t wait to explore it more.
And I saved one of the best parts for last: the funniest story happened when I spent the night in her parents’ apartment. I finally got home to bed in their guest room at about 3:30 AM on Sunday morning. After I passed out for a little while I awoke at 4:15 and turned to see that her stepfather had, for some odd reason, decided to join me in bed. He gave me that comical bug-eyed look that he sometimes gives and because of my tiredness, I couldn’t quite yet grasp the weirdness of the situation. But here’s how the basic dialogue went between us:
Him: Hey
Me: Hey
Him: How’s it going?
Me: Fine
Him: The kids got home OK?
Me: Yeah, the girls are downstairs.
Him: Where’s James?
Me: I’m sleeping up here.
Him: I thought James was going to sleep here.
Me: Yeah, the girls are going downstairs, I’m up here.
Him: (Finally realizing who he’s talking to, he jumps out of bed.) JAMES!
Me: Yeah. (We both laugh)
Apparently, he thought I was his wife. I guess I look like her at around 4:15 in the morning under covers, even with a beard. I must remedy that somehow. But seriously, after he left, I spent the next several minutes laughing to myself trying to make sense of the situation. Maybe his wife kicked him out of bed for some reason. It wasn’t until the next evening at the dinner table when my girlfriend was over at my house for dinner that I figured out exactly what happened. His wife, her mom, had left their bed because of his snoring and gone to sleep in her office. He woke up and started looking for her, saw someone under the covers in the guest room and assumed it was her. Priceless.
Wow, what crazy, funny weekend I had.
posted by Jaimetud at 1:21 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home