It's Here!

I can't believe it. It is here. The show we have been working for since August! I can't sleep. I have been dreaming about it for many nights. Last night was no different. I decided to just get up, it would be easier. There are so many thoughts going through my head right now. I took a half day off from school and a day off from tutoring to be ready for tonight. I will head to the theatre around 11:30 this morning. I was thinking that this is one of the biggest things I have done with my violin in a LONG time. But more than that, it has been such a wonderful experience just preparing for this event. It is hard to explain why. My mind is mush right now, my fingers are shaking, my stomach hurts from nerves. Nervous? Maybe a little, but I just want this to work well. I just want this to go flawlessly. Not for me, not for us. But for the story. It is a story we have all heard more than any other story. Christians, Non-Christians, everyone. About a Virgin who traveled with her fiance on a donkey for a census to be taken. They needed a place to stay for the night but the darn city was so crowded, there wasn't a place to stay. Then, He decides that the time is now to be born. Where will they go? A barn, none the less. A dirty, stinky barn, where there are animals, smells, poop for goodness sake. Enough said. I have heard this story a million times. But there is something about this show that tells this story again in a way that amazes me and makes me cry everytime I hear it. It makes the story, just how amazing of a story it is, seem like it is the first time I am hearing it. I have had three babies in the last 3 years and when I compare my birth experiences to that of Jesus, it is even more incredible. It was not a silent night, there was blood on the ground. You could hear a woman cry in the alleyway that night, on the streets of David's town. The stable was not clean and the cobblestones were cold. Little Mary full of Grace, with tears upon her face, and no mother's hand to hold! It was a labor of pain, it was a cold sky above. But for the girl on the ground in the dark, every beat of her beautiful heart was a labor of LOVE. Noble Joseph by her side, calloused hands and weary eyes. There were no midwives to be found, on the streets of David's town in the middle of the night. So he held her and he prayed, shafts of moonlight on his face. But the baby in her womb, He was the maker of the moon, He was the author of the faith that could make the mountains move. It was a labor of pain, it was a cold sky above, but for the girl on the ground in the dark, every beat of her beautiful heart was a labor of LOVE. Little Mary full of Grace, with tears upon her face, it was a labor of LOVE. It was not a silent night on the streets of David's town.......... That is one of the songs we will be performing tonight. It truly is an amazing story and I pray that it takes a concert like this one to tell the story that we have all heard, in a new way that will touch people's hearts. Please cover this event in prayer for this evening and we will see YOU at the Gem tonight. Doors open at 6:00!