Recently we had one of those nights when it was hard to see what God was doing in the place. It was a tough show for sure… but in God’s own way He showed me the reason at the end of the night. It’s not that the show wasn’t good… it was just one of those shows where you feel invisible on stage, like maybe they’re not listening to you. The back rows seemed to be having fun though, so that made it cool. You know… 10 years of doing this thing and you learn a few tricks on how to have fun in spite of a tough crowd… and they usually work:

Tip Number:
1.) Try to make Jesse laugh by making stupid faces during the show.
2.) Throw at least 1 bottle of water at Michael
3.) If the front row isn’t into it… use the old spray water over the crowd trick… that always gets people’s attention (and the band laughing too for that matter).
4.) Play a guitar solo, where you never play a solo… preferably over a bridge
5.) Throw down a filter cover… “Hey man, nice shot”… it always makes you feel better… even if the crowd doesn’t get it.
6.) Play a bluegrass version of any song… tonight’s was “Space In Between Us”
7.) Tell the lighting engineer to strobe everything
8.) Concentrate on Jesus… and play for an audience of 1

Ok so the show was over and then it was time for me to talk about World Vision… which is usually a part of the evening that takes on a life of its own. Long story short, even that part of the evening seemed to fall flat. When I asked people to raise their hands to sponsor a child, it felt like 5 hands went up, and I was totally disappointed. After all that was done I went backstage and felt really crummy for a while… wondering… “What did I miss? What part of tonight was wrong?”

Fast-forward to load out: I walked into the room after signing autographs and a tough-looking dude said, “Man, killer set brotha… You guys rocked”. Hmm that was nice. Then another guy with a similar compliment. Suddenly I’m walking through 10 guys who are all telling me how great we were… and I start thinking… these guys look different. Hmmm, I shrugged it off and kept walking… but a guy stopped me and told me that they were ALL from an addictions program in the area.

He had just graduated the program… he was an ex-con with ties to gangs, and big time drugs, but he wasn’t mean or even intimidating… he was cool when he talked about his struggles. How he was adopted, and that he watched he father die in front of him when he was 5. How his step sisters hated him and how he felt worthless which led him into gang life and drugs. His life spiraled out of control until he ended up spending 36 months in prison on burglary charges. He did his time and then got out and back into “the Life”. He enrolled in the addiction program after he was forced to go to a shelter because he ran out of gas and, while there, he went to a service where he heard his brother’s testimony of 20 years of addiction but salvation and ultimate freedom through Christ. SAWEET!!! Drug free for the last 16 months he is a HERO!!!!

After talking to him one of the other guys asked me about how many kids we sponsored… I told him 34 and he just said “cool”. So after a brief farewell I said goodbye and then I realized that they were all loading our junk out for nothing…. And then it occurred to me that maybe I should give them each a CD for helping… but would they like it???? Nahhh they’d probably not dig it… wait a second… so what would be the first song they would hear? “Not Gonna Let You Down”… how’s that go again?

If you could run, where would you run to now?
Where would you hide, now that the truth is out?
And I know, the fear you feel
And I know, this is real

But Please don’t run from me
Cause everyone needs somebody
Please don’t run from me now
I won’t leave you
You’re never alone wherever you go
Please don’t run from me now
Cause I’m not gonna let you down

This is the hope, that you’ve been longing to know
Cause God is alive, and He’s never left you alone
So hold on through your tears

But Please don’t run from me
Cause everyone needs somebody
Please don’t run from me now
I won’t leave you
You’re never alone wherever you go
Please don’t run from me now
Cause I’m not gonna let you down

So come back, come back to life again
Where we can be forgiven
Cause we’re almost home
So don’t you ever let go
This is what we’ve been waiting for
He is the hope that heals the world
We’re almost home so please.

How dare I think that tonight didn’t matter. That was the first song we played in the set… and the first one that they’ll hear when they listen to that CD. God, my attitude has been adjusted.

Jroy!!