Monday, July 14, 2014

"1, 2, 5." "Three, sir."

Last time I told you we were going into the "home stretch" with 5 concerts left to go.  Well, we did 3 and that was enough.  Saturday afternoon, around 3, we went to set up our late night performance.  To get there we walked 10 minutes to a ferry, from the ferry it was another 5 minute walk to a train in a tunnel, then on to a trolley.  A short walk down the street and up a flight of stairs that took us to and elevator.  Up the elevator, then up another flight of stair and ta-da!  There you are.  Easy peasy.  So we set up and sound checked.  Once we were ready there we raced out the door at about 7pm to go perform at a dinner that was 50 minutes away by car.  We get to that diner with 5 minutes to sound check before we get on stage.  All goes well we get to eat and head back to the first venue via a car ride that would be an entire post unto itself.  10:30pm comes and we are ready to start our second performance of the day.  When the day was all said and done it was 3am that I went to bed knowing that I needed to get up in 3 1/2 hours to repack the truck and drive 7 hours the next day.

I don't lay all of this out there to complain, but just to let you know the realities of what I've signed up for.  If this were just for work, there's no way I would keep that schedule, but because of the eternal motivation that I have, I press on.

Our final concert was in the city that was historically known as Troy.  My mixing board was set up right under the nose of the Trojan Horse they used in the 2004 movie.  By the time we had finished our sound check we had over 100 people watching us.  We made announcements about the upcoming concert that night, and a few people connected with individuals who had gathered.  We had a couple hours before the concert, so we just played recorded music for a while.  In that down time more people connected with kids, tourists, and anyone passing by who wondered what was going on.  We even had an Indian family stop by with some Bollywood music they wanted us to play so they could dance to it.  By concert time we had a crowd of over 400 people ready to see what this crew from Chicago had to offer.

The crowd grew over the course of the performance and was very receptive of our music and message.  At the end of the concert I did all I could to restrain my urge to pack up and leave.  It's always the practice to pack it up and get out at my normal gigs.  In fact I pride myself at timing the truck pack and setting new records.  But these shows are different.  I needed to remind myself that we are here for conversations and relationships.  I am so glad I did.


I got to see a believer that I had met 3 years ago on a previous tour.  I got to meet some members of the local church and I got to meet some believers who were seeking refuge in Turkey.  I won't go into too many details about these men here, for the sake of their privacy.  Suffice it to say they had good reason not to return to their home countries.  They were overjoyed to be at such and openly Christian event out in public.  They were thrilled that we were there, and I was honored that we could serve these men in any way.  If the whole trip was just to set up and sing just for these men, I would have made the journey ten times over.

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