Audio Adrenalin / Mercy Me / Aaron Shust Concert
We went to the 5:00 service first and it was really something to see all the equipment and speakers on and above the stage.I was so excited for the show that I will need to download Mel’s teaching because as much as I tried to pay attention, I missed half of it.
I LOVED AUDIO ADRENALINE!! Even my mellow husband had to get up on his feet and clap his hands, and I don’t think I sat down through one Audio Adrenalin tune. Aaron Shust was excellent and I liked Mercy Me’s sound better live than I do on CD’s. With Mercy Me coming on stage after Audio Adrenalin, the fastest of Mercy Me songs was like a lullaby but don’t get me wrong - they are talented performers and I enjoyed their music as well.
It was amusing to look around and see some older folks – as in grandparents and some parents – when Audio Adrenaline started playing. Some of those people looked surprised, some looked kind of ticked off, and some parents with teens looked confused but eventually lightened up to enjoy the music and the message. I believe I will be a 70-year old lady who still enjoys loud rock music, so I will need to come up with ways to blackmail my daughter into letting me come along with her and her friends to these events when she gets older. Unless I happen to come across another hip old lady, that is!
Aaron Shust and the lead singers from Audio Adrenaline and Mercy Me did some excellent preaching and testifying. I like how the lead singer from Mercy Me said that religion is just meant to accessorize Christ, and those who follow religious practices without having a relationship with Christ will be empty like the “mean old people” at the church he was raised in. These people did all the religious stuff by the book, but they did not reap the reward and peace of a relationship with the Savior.
Christ has to come before religion and if you’re following all the “rules” of your church and you still often feel hopeless and unfulfilled, read the Gospel and you will see that Jesus requires no man-made rules. God makes things so easy, man makes God so difficult.
Audio Adrenalin has set up an orphanage in Haiti, and all three bands talked about sponsoring a child. I started having an internal conversation with myself as they talked about how the orphanage will grow to nourish and educate more and more children both academically and spiritually. I started thinking about how I had been meaning to take 10% of my earnings from my freelance writing and donate it, but so far I have done little to investigate and pray about where to donate. I have considered sponsoring a child through a organization such as the World Vision on The Fish. I asked myself why I hadn’t come up with a place for that 10%, and then I said to myself that if my daughter wanted to sponsor one of these kids, we would do it.
I waited to see if my daughter would say anything about sponsoring a child, and then they announced that they would be handing out packets to anyone who was interested in doing so. My daughter turned to me and asked what sponsoring meant, and after I explained it she asked if we could do that. I said, “sure – raise your hand for a packet!”
So we get a packet and I think it’s just going to be information. Not so – everyone who requested a packet actually got an individual child’s profile with the sponsorship paperwork. I believe God meant for us to sponsor Kerlanda Joseph, a 5 year old girl in Haiti at Twoulijen Child Survival Program and I’ll be filling out the paperwork with my daughter tonight and may God use this experience to bless Kerlanda and to reinforce in us how truly blessed my family is. This donation does not add up to 10% of my monthly income, so I need to find another place to use the remainder.
Tags: Christianity, musicRelated posts
Categorized as Christianity, music