MercyMe!!!

I am not normally a person who is into concerts. The crowds used to irritate me, someone was always rude and of course, me being feisty would be rude back and I'd end up in a fight, someone would drink too much or I'd get it spilled on me and smell like that for the rest of the night. The sound is either too loud or not loud enough. The show can be disappointing and then I regret paying the ridiculous amount for that I paid for tickets.

Concerts. Just not my thing. Until this year.

I have been making the rounds at some really GREAT Christian music concerts and have had an absolute blast!

I started out with Steven Curtis Chapman. I LOVE his music, love that he is a champion of adoption, love his testimony and love the fact that he came with The Afters. So when I found out he was coming in concert to Athens, I bought tickets and made the ex go with me. It was good.  I was a little disappointed in the lack of worship of the crowd. I mean, when you go to a church like Church of the Highlands, you just get to where you expect that level of worship all the time. You forget that some churches/people aren't "there yet" and so even though it was a good concert, I felt like I couldn't enjoy myself like I could have.

Then I went to Kari Jobe at Gardendale First Baptist. A little better. She is so beautiful and talented and even though I'm not a huge fan of Rend Collective, they really helped get the crowd fired up. I also loved Warren Barfield and his testimony. And it's just not humanly possible to listen to Kari and NOT get up and lift your hands high! If you can sit still during that, I would have to question a lot of things about you!

And then here comes MercyMe with Jamie Grace and Citizens Way at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheatre! I originally though I'd go with my son but he wasn't interested. :( And then I almost did not get to go because I could not find ANYONE that wanted to go or could go with me! I contemplated just selling my tickets and staying home to study. But at the last minute, my friend from DivorceCare, Leslie said she could go. So I picked her up in McCalla and we went and had an amazing time! The weather was perfect for an outdoor event and everything about it was just great.

Loved hearing Jamie Grace's testimony and she is incredibly talented! Citizens Way---what cuties! Made me wish I was a younger, single woman!

But MercyMe...I knew they'd be good but oh my! They blew me away. Most people know them by their crossover song, "I can only imagine...". It's a song they refer to as the song that won't go away. It was just so good that they were getting asked to play it all the time and I'm sure they got a little bored with it. But there is so much more to this group of musicians.

Bart Millard's testimony is so much like many Christians that still don't get it. They keep living their lives trying to "do everything right" and feeling so lost inside because they don't realize there is NOTHING they can do to make God love them anymore than He already does! It's truly indescribable for me but Bart does a great job of it so if you ever get to hear him, don't pass up the opportunity.

I'm sure most people came wanting to hear the song that does not go away and MercyMe did not disappoint. But their other stuff, especially the new album, is so much better! The range of talent these guys have..they can do it all--country, hard rock, soul, jazz--they even had a disco sounding song!

And Bart, if by some small chance you happen to be reading this, I think the suits WERE a good idea! You guys looked great! Thank you for such a great show! Truly a blessing!