Lisa and I are preparing to help play host to the Brail family as they travel down from Michigan and Indiana for the Christmas Holiday. Lisa is on school break until the third week of January, at which time she will not have a break from it until she graduates in August.
I was in our church's Christmas Musical Presentation last weekend, having a solo on one of the songs. All three performances went well.
Merry Christmas!
Updates have been few and far between recently... Sorry...
When Lisa and I get the pictures back I will write the Walker Vacation piece...
In the meantime, get ready for Christmas...
When Lisa and I get the pictures back I will write the Walker Vacation piece...
In the meantime, get ready for Christmas...
Today is just another day in my life.
However, it is not just considered another day.
This day is to be celebrated above all other days in the calendar year.
At least for me.
Today is my birthday.
Yep, that’s right.
Many years ago my mom was toiling in labor to bring me into this world.
My father was celebrating the birth of his second child.
His first son.
He did not know I would be his only son.
And so today I celebrate my birthday.
In American culture, this birthday seems to carry more importance than most.
For some reason, which I have yet to understand, this time around is considered more significant.
Why is that?
What makes the 30th birthday so unique?
I don’t earn any new privileges like I did when I was 16.
I wasn’t given new rights as I was on the 18th celebration of my birth.
I am not allowed legally to do anything that I wasn’t before like when I turned 21.
And yet, there is an emphasis placed upon this event eludes me.
Why is 30 focused on so much more than turning 29?
I suppose maybe it’s the fact of completing another decade.
After all, it was much easier for the Romans to carve XXX than XXIX.
Just now, looking at that last sentence, I realize something spectacular.
Not having thought of this before, it makes me smile.
God has just reaffirmed in me something I have been feeling lately.
Want to know what it is?
I’ll tell you a little later on in this post.
For now, I want to take a little trip down memory lane and review some of the events that stand out in my life.
Jeremy Walker
* 11MAY76 – Born in Poughkeepsie, New York – a place I have never returned to and have no recollection of
* 1982 – Moved with the family to St. Charles, Missouri from Arlington, Texas
* 1985 – Transferred from Null Elementary School (public) to Living Word Christian School (private)
* 16MAY85 – Accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior while in school
* Spring 1986? – Was baptized by Dad at Highland View Baptist Church – not sure of exact date
* Fall 1990 – Began home schooling
* May 1994 – Graduated from high school
* Fall 1994 – Began taking courses at St Charles County Community College
* Fall 1996 – Transferred to Northwest Missouri State University – lived in residence halls
* 01MAY99 – Graduated from College with a B.S. in Geography, minor Computer Science
* Fall 1999 – Began classes at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville – moved into small apartment in Edwardsville
* Spring 2000 – Spent two weeks living in New Melle, MO then moved into apartment on Parkcrest
* Fall 2003 – Started dating Lisa Brail
* Spring 2004 – Engaged to Lisa
* August 2004 – I moved into the apartment at Aberdeen – Lisa moved in her stuff
* 25SEP04 – Married Lisa in front of family outdoors at the Bonney house in Greenville, IL
* December 2004 – Adopted our cat, whom we named Bell
* March 2005 – Moved into our first house on Golfway, where we still live
* Summer 2005 – Lisa decides she wants to be a nurse – starts taking prerequisite classes at community college
* Fall 2005 – Lisa is accepted into Accelerated Nursing program at university of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL) and will start the program on Monday (15MAY06)
And that’s a very brief overview of what might be considered important events in my life.
But now I want to highlight some of what I consider key moments in my life.
Jeremy Walker
* Watching my kindergarten classmates snatch the inflated “Letter People” character from its hiding space and toss it around the room until some kid popped it with the point of his pencil. We put it back and the teacher only found out when she went to pull it out for our alphabet lesson. She wasn’t happy and we felt bad for about a day I think.
* Driving from Texas to Illinois in the Summer to visit with Grandma/Grandpa Walker and coming upon the bridge into Chester, Illinois through the fog and seeing the statue of Popeye – I still remember that experience
* Practicing tee ball with Sonja and Dad and watching him chase those punk kids off – saw him jump a few fences and couldn’t believe he was chasing them down. Was even more shocked when he went to their home and confronted the parents.
* Hurting my neck while jumping on a “moonwalk” trampoline at Chuck E Cheese – pulled muscles in my neck and spent the summer in a neck brace
* Walking into our house at Cole and being amazed at the thought of having two levels instead of one and having a creek that ran through our back yard.
* Getting “lost” at Sesame Place while on family vacation to Texas. Somehow I got separated from the family and was alone near the ball pit. It is the first time I remember truly feeling frightened and alone.
* Being constipated while on that same Texas vacation while we were at Mrs. Kaylor’s house. This was my first experience with my body revolting against me without doing anything stupid to deserve it.
* Sticking my finger into every coin return slot of every vending machine and arcade game while on our vacation, finding all sorts of loose change. Mom finally told me to let Jessi(or was it Sonja) get the ones at the next stop and I think she pulled out a bug.
* Getting hit in the back with the tetherball pole that was in our back yard by the German kid from down the street
* Jumping over a snow bank and tearing a gash through my left knee. Stayed out and kept playing for a long time. Came in and had to peal my pants off the wound and did everything I could to stop the bleeding. Walked around for two days with my legs straight as a board to help the healing process and avoid having to go to the doctor. Should have had several stitches.
* Watching Sonja wrecking her bike and body into that wooden fence post up Principia and thinking she was going to die from it.
* Flipping over my handlebars on Droste while riding my bike to church – shattered a bone in my wrist and cracked a bone in my arm (ulna?)
* Rubbing my nipples off while body surfing on a cloth raft on vacation in Myrtle Beach
* Breaking my nose while on vacation in Daytona Beach – “Is my nose bleeding?”
* Wrecking my 1983 Thunderbird under a semi while traveling 60mph on I-70 during rush hour – driving off without a scratch or bruise.
* Sitting bored through my college commencement, glad that I had brought a bunch of candy in under my gown. The people in my row were incredibly glad I had it too…
* Discovering that I am lactose intolerant and realizing that ice cream truly was my enemy, yet loving it all the same
* Getting contacts to correct my vision, which had slowly deteriorated to the point of needing glasses all of the time.
* Wrecking the Escort headfirst into a 200lb deer while going 65mph on I-270 in Illinois. Walked away with a burn on my thigh from the airbag and some muscle soreness in my back.
Reading through that list helps me to better appreciate what God has done in my life to bring me to where I am today.
And that brings me back to my earlier spectacular thought.
Numerically, the difference between 29 and 30 is only 1 year.
However, written in Roman numerals, that difference comes from dropping the I from the middle of it all.
Did you catch that?
Yeah, I think that is quite cool and appropriate for where I am today.
Over the past few weeks, I feel as if God has been telling me that I need to decrease so He can increase that much more. I haven’t been in the Word enough lately and it is starting to drain my passion for God - and that isn’t what I want. I want to become less egocentric and more God-focused. I want to be more like Paul in his “I have become all things to all men, so that I might save some”. I want to be the man that God has called me to be and live a life that is pleasing to Him everyday. I need to live more intentionally and less inhibited for the Kingdom.
There is so much to improve upon.
But yet, in this moment I see where God has brought me and what He has brought me through. I am so thankful for that.
He has blessed me to live for 30 years on this earth.
Now I need to live like I know what He has done for me, because I do.
Earlier I questioned why people emphasize this birthday more than others.
Here’s why I am celebrating my 30th birthday as a special occasion:
Christ started His earthly ministry when He was 30.
My hope is that I might reflect Him more this year than in my past and grow closer to Him than I am in the present.
To live a life that is pleasing to God, this is my reasonable act of worship.
May I live it out more than year than those in my past.
May I never forget how far God has brought me and trust that He will carry me as far as He wants me to go…
However, it is not just considered another day.
This day is to be celebrated above all other days in the calendar year.
At least for me.
Today is my birthday.
Yep, that’s right.
Many years ago my mom was toiling in labor to bring me into this world.
My father was celebrating the birth of his second child.
His first son.
He did not know I would be his only son.
And so today I celebrate my birthday.
In American culture, this birthday seems to carry more importance than most.
For some reason, which I have yet to understand, this time around is considered more significant.
Why is that?
What makes the 30th birthday so unique?
I don’t earn any new privileges like I did when I was 16.
I wasn’t given new rights as I was on the 18th celebration of my birth.
I am not allowed legally to do anything that I wasn’t before like when I turned 21.
And yet, there is an emphasis placed upon this event eludes me.
Why is 30 focused on so much more than turning 29?
I suppose maybe it’s the fact of completing another decade.
After all, it was much easier for the Romans to carve XXX than XXIX.
Just now, looking at that last sentence, I realize something spectacular.
Not having thought of this before, it makes me smile.
God has just reaffirmed in me something I have been feeling lately.
Want to know what it is?
I’ll tell you a little later on in this post.
For now, I want to take a little trip down memory lane and review some of the events that stand out in my life.
Jeremy Walker
* 11MAY76 – Born in Poughkeepsie, New York – a place I have never returned to and have no recollection of
* 1982 – Moved with the family to St. Charles, Missouri from Arlington, Texas
* 1985 – Transferred from Null Elementary School (public) to Living Word Christian School (private)
* 16MAY85 – Accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior while in school
* Spring 1986? – Was baptized by Dad at Highland View Baptist Church – not sure of exact date
* Fall 1990 – Began home schooling
* May 1994 – Graduated from high school
* Fall 1994 – Began taking courses at St Charles County Community College
* Fall 1996 – Transferred to Northwest Missouri State University – lived in residence halls
* 01MAY99 – Graduated from College with a B.S. in Geography, minor Computer Science
* Fall 1999 – Began classes at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville – moved into small apartment in Edwardsville
* Spring 2000 – Spent two weeks living in New Melle, MO then moved into apartment on Parkcrest
* Fall 2003 – Started dating Lisa Brail
* Spring 2004 – Engaged to Lisa
* August 2004 – I moved into the apartment at Aberdeen – Lisa moved in her stuff
* 25SEP04 – Married Lisa in front of family outdoors at the Bonney house in Greenville, IL
* December 2004 – Adopted our cat, whom we named Bell
* March 2005 – Moved into our first house on Golfway, where we still live
* Summer 2005 – Lisa decides she wants to be a nurse – starts taking prerequisite classes at community college
* Fall 2005 – Lisa is accepted into Accelerated Nursing program at university of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL) and will start the program on Monday (15MAY06)
And that’s a very brief overview of what might be considered important events in my life.
But now I want to highlight some of what I consider key moments in my life.
Jeremy Walker
* Watching my kindergarten classmates snatch the inflated “Letter People” character from its hiding space and toss it around the room until some kid popped it with the point of his pencil. We put it back and the teacher only found out when she went to pull it out for our alphabet lesson. She wasn’t happy and we felt bad for about a day I think.
* Driving from Texas to Illinois in the Summer to visit with Grandma/Grandpa Walker and coming upon the bridge into Chester, Illinois through the fog and seeing the statue of Popeye – I still remember that experience
* Practicing tee ball with Sonja and Dad and watching him chase those punk kids off – saw him jump a few fences and couldn’t believe he was chasing them down. Was even more shocked when he went to their home and confronted the parents.
* Hurting my neck while jumping on a “moonwalk” trampoline at Chuck E Cheese – pulled muscles in my neck and spent the summer in a neck brace
* Walking into our house at Cole and being amazed at the thought of having two levels instead of one and having a creek that ran through our back yard.
* Getting “lost” at Sesame Place while on family vacation to Texas. Somehow I got separated from the family and was alone near the ball pit. It is the first time I remember truly feeling frightened and alone.
* Being constipated while on that same Texas vacation while we were at Mrs. Kaylor’s house. This was my first experience with my body revolting against me without doing anything stupid to deserve it.
* Sticking my finger into every coin return slot of every vending machine and arcade game while on our vacation, finding all sorts of loose change. Mom finally told me to let Jessi(or was it Sonja) get the ones at the next stop and I think she pulled out a bug.
* Getting hit in the back with the tetherball pole that was in our back yard by the German kid from down the street
* Jumping over a snow bank and tearing a gash through my left knee. Stayed out and kept playing for a long time. Came in and had to peal my pants off the wound and did everything I could to stop the bleeding. Walked around for two days with my legs straight as a board to help the healing process and avoid having to go to the doctor. Should have had several stitches.
* Watching Sonja wrecking her bike and body into that wooden fence post up Principia and thinking she was going to die from it.
* Flipping over my handlebars on Droste while riding my bike to church – shattered a bone in my wrist and cracked a bone in my arm (ulna?)
* Rubbing my nipples off while body surfing on a cloth raft on vacation in Myrtle Beach
* Breaking my nose while on vacation in Daytona Beach – “Is my nose bleeding?”
* Wrecking my 1983 Thunderbird under a semi while traveling 60mph on I-70 during rush hour – driving off without a scratch or bruise.
* Sitting bored through my college commencement, glad that I had brought a bunch of candy in under my gown. The people in my row were incredibly glad I had it too…
* Discovering that I am lactose intolerant and realizing that ice cream truly was my enemy, yet loving it all the same
* Getting contacts to correct my vision, which had slowly deteriorated to the point of needing glasses all of the time.
* Wrecking the Escort headfirst into a 200lb deer while going 65mph on I-270 in Illinois. Walked away with a burn on my thigh from the airbag and some muscle soreness in my back.
Reading through that list helps me to better appreciate what God has done in my life to bring me to where I am today.
And that brings me back to my earlier spectacular thought.
Numerically, the difference between 29 and 30 is only 1 year.
However, written in Roman numerals, that difference comes from dropping the I from the middle of it all.
Did you catch that?
Yeah, I think that is quite cool and appropriate for where I am today.
Over the past few weeks, I feel as if God has been telling me that I need to decrease so He can increase that much more. I haven’t been in the Word enough lately and it is starting to drain my passion for God - and that isn’t what I want. I want to become less egocentric and more God-focused. I want to be more like Paul in his “I have become all things to all men, so that I might save some”. I want to be the man that God has called me to be and live a life that is pleasing to Him everyday. I need to live more intentionally and less inhibited for the Kingdom.
There is so much to improve upon.
But yet, in this moment I see where God has brought me and what He has brought me through. I am so thankful for that.
He has blessed me to live for 30 years on this earth.
Now I need to live like I know what He has done for me, because I do.
Earlier I questioned why people emphasize this birthday more than others.
Here’s why I am celebrating my 30th birthday as a special occasion:
Christ started His earthly ministry when He was 30.
My hope is that I might reflect Him more this year than in my past and grow closer to Him than I am in the present.
To live a life that is pleasing to God, this is my reasonable act of worship.
May I live it out more than year than those in my past.
May I never forget how far God has brought me and trust that He will carry me as far as He wants me to go…
.jpg)
This morning we held a full performance of "Isle of Dreams" at the Robert's Orpheum Theatre in downtown St. Louis. This was kind of a last minute performance, so we only had about 3 days to invite people to come to it. The audience was mostly family and close friends and the theatre is a wonderful venue to perform in. We started about an hour late because we were waiting for our host to arrive. Once we started, things went really well. The cast sounded great, which was a huge relief after we had an absolutely nightmarish sound check earlier. There was a lot of great enthusiasm and energy on display on the stage and everyone did a fabulous job.
I had a frustrating scene during the Crucifixion. We could use the normal out robe to cover me with, so we used a shiny, slick drape instead. When the "grave covering" was pulled off, the crown came off with it. This wouldn't have been a problem at all except for the fact that it was tangled in my hair and I couldn't get it all the way off and I couldn't put it back on. So I played the scen to the side with the dangling crown hidden to the audience's view. To add to the toil, when i stood the shiny material slipped off my shoulder and promptly fell to the floor with all of the other "dirty" drapes. So there wasn't much of a changing effect, but nobody really seemed to notice all that much. This will be somthing that does not happen next performance.
Altogether, this was most likely our best performance to date, which is totally encouraging. Since this was on the heals of the Champaign performance, it builds the confidence of everyone involved I think. We have now done two performances back-to-back that have been great. Now we have to keep that expectation of heightened performance alive and get even better. Things are coming along...
I had a frustrating scene during the Crucifixion. We could use the normal out robe to cover me with, so we used a shiny, slick drape instead. When the "grave covering" was pulled off, the crown came off with it. This wouldn't have been a problem at all except for the fact that it was tangled in my hair and I couldn't get it all the way off and I couldn't put it back on. So I played the scen to the side with the dangling crown hidden to the audience's view. To add to the toil, when i stood the shiny material slipped off my shoulder and promptly fell to the floor with all of the other "dirty" drapes. So there wasn't much of a changing effect, but nobody really seemed to notice all that much. This will be somthing that does not happen next performance.
Altogether, this was most likely our best performance to date, which is totally encouraging. Since this was on the heals of the Champaign performance, it builds the confidence of everyone involved I think. We have now done two performances back-to-back that have been great. Now we have to keep that expectation of heightened performance alive and get even better. Things are coming along...
I returned last Thursday from 6 days of being back down in Mississippi with Service International. SI has swiched their base of operations to a large church facility in Long Beach (as opposed to the church we stayed in at Cedar Lake). Back on our trip in December, SI was praying for a new location and we joined them in that prayer. Let me confirm that God has provided a wonderful location and facility for them to work out of and it makes it easier to accomodate much larger groups than previously was possible.
I went down with 2 other guys(Luke and Kurt) from my Sunday School class at church and we had a really great time. This time I worked on the demolition team for two days (our team of 12 completely gutted a 1100 sq ft house of its ceilings, walls and floors in one day, and completed about 60% of another house the second day). The third day we had to call of finishing the second house, so I ended up with the landscaping team doing various yard projects. Through a twist of events, I ended up stripping vinyl tile off of a kitchen floor during the middle of the day and back at a house for yard work just down the road from the church we stayed in previously. It had been a long, weird day, but I felt good about what had been accomplished. This person's house was almost complete, with the tile floors being grouted and the doors being installed. The yard surrounding this house was clean, mowed, trimmed and was in line to have some plants and flowers to be placed in the coming days.
I sat in the truck ready to leave and was talking to Darrell (one of the SI crew that is down there now) about how nice the house was coming along. He told me that it was going to be featured on an upcoming Joyce Meyers program. Evidently, Joyce is going to come down to the area and fillm interviews with the residents who have lived through the aftermath and had their homes rebuilt by SI. Throughout our conversation, the homeowner had been walking around inside marveling at her house and how it looked. I hadn't met her, nor did I need to, to know that she was a wonderful person. Everyone on the crew that had been working there for two days had told me about how nice she was. Well, it was time to leave and as our little group pulled out of the driveway to head abck to the church, the lady turned around to wave goodbye to us. And that's when I realized that this was one of the homes that our group had worked in. In fact, this was the home that the Kansas City group had working in tearing it apart. This wonderful lady was the one who came to eat dinner with us and spend time with us. (My memory is failing me at the moment, but I believe her name was Jean.) It was an amazing moment to realize that I had in some form or fashion been a part of this woman's rebuilding from the beginning to the end. I love how God does stuff like that for us.
It's a great feeling knowing that Jean has a fabulous house to live in. SI is buying her all new furniture and they had an interior decorator come down to make sure it is done just right. Thanks to our efforts, and hundreds of others like us, one more person now has a place to call home that they can live in and be proud of. (I don't know when the Joyce Meyer program is supposed to air, but if I find out I will let you all know.)
As a general comment, most of the piles of trash and debris along the beach highway(hwy 90) have been cleared. You can now see over three blocks inland from the road, where the neighborhoods once stood. Downtown Biloxi is starting to look a bit more normal as they have begun tearing down some of the barely standing structures. The MGM/Grand Hotel and Casino is under repair and looks like it will reopen this summer. Everywhere you look you can see the progress that has been made. And yet, everywhere you look you can see how much there is still left to do.
Although the roads have been cleaned up, houses are still damaged beyond being liveable. People are still waiting to get into a FEMA trailer so they can start working on teraing apart their houses to fix them. If you venture off into the side neighborhoods, you can see that most homes still do not have permanent roofs on them and a lot of people are still living in their homes depsite the serious mold conditions from all of the water. Katrina's Kitchen, a local food distribution center set up along the beach highway after we were there, still feed hundreds of residents a day that cannot afford food anywhere else.
Do not be deceived by news reports that might make things sound like they are almost back to normal. Do not allow yourself to be tricked into thinking that the majority of the work is completed. As you all can imagine, things are not always as they appear on tv and sometimes they are much worse. Continue praying that God will send people to serve in the area. SI has the all the funding they need to continue operating in the area until late fall, but they lack volunteers to do the work. If you know of a church seeking a missions opportunity, a youth group wanting to go on a trip or just an individual who has expressed interest in helping in some way, please encourage them to serve in the area!
I cannot express how awesome God has been to me in my adventures while serving in Mississippi. He has introduced me to so many wonderful people and has allowed me to participate in so many ways toward building His Kingdom... It's phenomenal!
Please continue praying along with me for the people living in the region and the volunteers working there. If we can do nothing else, the absolute best thing we can do is pray.
I went down with 2 other guys(Luke and Kurt) from my Sunday School class at church and we had a really great time. This time I worked on the demolition team for two days (our team of 12 completely gutted a 1100 sq ft house of its ceilings, walls and floors in one day, and completed about 60% of another house the second day). The third day we had to call of finishing the second house, so I ended up with the landscaping team doing various yard projects. Through a twist of events, I ended up stripping vinyl tile off of a kitchen floor during the middle of the day and back at a house for yard work just down the road from the church we stayed in previously. It had been a long, weird day, but I felt good about what had been accomplished. This person's house was almost complete, with the tile floors being grouted and the doors being installed. The yard surrounding this house was clean, mowed, trimmed and was in line to have some plants and flowers to be placed in the coming days.
I sat in the truck ready to leave and was talking to Darrell (one of the SI crew that is down there now) about how nice the house was coming along. He told me that it was going to be featured on an upcoming Joyce Meyers program. Evidently, Joyce is going to come down to the area and fillm interviews with the residents who have lived through the aftermath and had their homes rebuilt by SI. Throughout our conversation, the homeowner had been walking around inside marveling at her house and how it looked. I hadn't met her, nor did I need to, to know that she was a wonderful person. Everyone on the crew that had been working there for two days had told me about how nice she was. Well, it was time to leave and as our little group pulled out of the driveway to head abck to the church, the lady turned around to wave goodbye to us. And that's when I realized that this was one of the homes that our group had worked in. In fact, this was the home that the Kansas City group had working in tearing it apart. This wonderful lady was the one who came to eat dinner with us and spend time with us. (My memory is failing me at the moment, but I believe her name was Jean.) It was an amazing moment to realize that I had in some form or fashion been a part of this woman's rebuilding from the beginning to the end. I love how God does stuff like that for us.
It's a great feeling knowing that Jean has a fabulous house to live in. SI is buying her all new furniture and they had an interior decorator come down to make sure it is done just right. Thanks to our efforts, and hundreds of others like us, one more person now has a place to call home that they can live in and be proud of. (I don't know when the Joyce Meyer program is supposed to air, but if I find out I will let you all know.)
As a general comment, most of the piles of trash and debris along the beach highway(hwy 90) have been cleared. You can now see over three blocks inland from the road, where the neighborhoods once stood. Downtown Biloxi is starting to look a bit more normal as they have begun tearing down some of the barely standing structures. The MGM/Grand Hotel and Casino is under repair and looks like it will reopen this summer. Everywhere you look you can see the progress that has been made. And yet, everywhere you look you can see how much there is still left to do.
Although the roads have been cleaned up, houses are still damaged beyond being liveable. People are still waiting to get into a FEMA trailer so they can start working on teraing apart their houses to fix them. If you venture off into the side neighborhoods, you can see that most homes still do not have permanent roofs on them and a lot of people are still living in their homes depsite the serious mold conditions from all of the water. Katrina's Kitchen, a local food distribution center set up along the beach highway after we were there, still feed hundreds of residents a day that cannot afford food anywhere else.
Do not be deceived by news reports that might make things sound like they are almost back to normal. Do not allow yourself to be tricked into thinking that the majority of the work is completed. As you all can imagine, things are not always as they appear on tv and sometimes they are much worse. Continue praying that God will send people to serve in the area. SI has the all the funding they need to continue operating in the area until late fall, but they lack volunteers to do the work. If you know of a church seeking a missions opportunity, a youth group wanting to go on a trip or just an individual who has expressed interest in helping in some way, please encourage them to serve in the area!
I cannot express how awesome God has been to me in my adventures while serving in Mississippi. He has introduced me to so many wonderful people and has allowed me to participate in so many ways toward building His Kingdom... It's phenomenal!
Please continue praying along with me for the people living in the region and the volunteers working there. If we can do nothing else, the absolute best thing we can do is pray.
Lisa and I travelled up to Champaign, IL on Saturday with the "Isle of Dreams" to perform at Smith Hall on the UIUC campus. We left Michael's house at 10am with James and Yvette also in our car. We arrived at the theatre by 3, with the performance starting at 8pm.
The theatre is a gorgeous building, built in 1917 (I think), with wood carving and ornamentation everywhere. Standing at center stage in the empty theatre, I could sing at regular medium voice and clearly hear the reverberation in the room. It was amazing.
As the doors opened at 7:15, we were growing a bit antsy with excitement and anticipation. (After all, this is only the second actual theatre we have been in the past year, the other being at Rolla). We had been looking forward to our return to Champaign, since our last performance was so well received (this trip included hitting the deer on the way back). We knew that there had been several churches in the area promoting the vent and we were ready for whoever might show up.
As the time grew closer, we found ourselves facing a much different reality than what we had hoped or expected. With 10 minutes to curtain, we could only see a handful of people from the side stage area. Naturally, this is confusing to encounter and almost altogether puzzling. We talked about it backstage. [I'd like to take a moment to emphasize that we perform in front of audiences of all shapes and sizes at any miscellaneous venue, expecting God to send whomever He wants to be there. We sing for His Glory, not anyone else's, so the crowd size is merely a physical aspect of our surroundings. However, like all performers, we love to have as many people as possible at every performance.]
Just before taking the stage, we gathered in the wings and prayed for the performance, thanking God for allowing us the priviledge to serve Him and for the people He had brought. And then we stepped out into the theatre as the music began.
As I entered stage right to the front portion of the stage, my eyes caught their first glimpse of what our human audience for the evening would be. For a brief moment, I felt betrayed by the limited number of eyes that watched me. It's a difficult thing to explain to someone who has never taken a stage in front of an audience before. After having put so much time and energy already into this performance alone, practicing for hours to get to this performance, singing for hours to hit the right notes, blocking the scenes to best portray the events - it's easy to feel let down when a crowd is not large or is seemingly unenthused about being there. I quickly regained my focus. After all, I am not singing for fame or fortune but for the Glory of God...
Returning backstage after the opening, I took my place in the side room, accompanied by Tony (who is usually planted in the theatre, but couldn't be for this performance). We immediately talked about how this was going to be a performace that everyone was going to have to push through. With such a small crowd, participation can be expected to be low. Not to mention that it's just harder to give everything you have to a couple dozen patrons in a 500+ seat theatre. I prayed for the group as they began Act I, that they would give God all that He deserved and let the people disappear in front of them.
I entered to sing everybody is God's Child and felt pretty good about how it went. Everybody ws singing their songs and singing them really well. By the time we ended Act I with "The King", there was an excitment off stage to get back on. Vocally, things were going really well.
Act II picked up right where we left off, witht he cast doing a great job bringing life vocally to their characters. As with every performance, there are a few things that I would like to do differently next time, but overall I was pleased with the performance. I think everyone felt pretty good about how things went. We packed up the production and Lisa and I were on the road to our hotel by 11:30(which we had rented because we didn't want to have to drive the 3 hours back that late). We checked in right at midnight and fell asleep fairly quickly.
We slept in and showered, taking our time and checking out at 11. We headed across the street to the Amishland Buffet(Tuscola, IL) which is open on Sundays(Amish?). The food was really good and they had an enormous amount of desserts (pies, cookies, puddings, cakes, brownies, etc). We took our time walking around looking at the Amishland shops(not open on Sundays) with all of their amazing wood furniture. It was a nice relaxing way to start the day.
We made it home in time to go to Lisa's parents house for St. Patrick's Day/Birthday Dinner. After cornbeef and cabbage, we had key-lime pie and Deb opened the presents for her birthday. We then played the card game Golf, which is pretty fun (even though I had a terribly game).
Lisa and I made it home by 10, exhausted yet totally relaxed. It was a good weekend...
The theatre is a gorgeous building, built in 1917 (I think), with wood carving and ornamentation everywhere. Standing at center stage in the empty theatre, I could sing at regular medium voice and clearly hear the reverberation in the room. It was amazing.
As the doors opened at 7:15, we were growing a bit antsy with excitement and anticipation. (After all, this is only the second actual theatre we have been in the past year, the other being at Rolla). We had been looking forward to our return to Champaign, since our last performance was so well received (this trip included hitting the deer on the way back). We knew that there had been several churches in the area promoting the vent and we were ready for whoever might show up.
As the time grew closer, we found ourselves facing a much different reality than what we had hoped or expected. With 10 minutes to curtain, we could only see a handful of people from the side stage area. Naturally, this is confusing to encounter and almost altogether puzzling. We talked about it backstage. [I'd like to take a moment to emphasize that we perform in front of audiences of all shapes and sizes at any miscellaneous venue, expecting God to send whomever He wants to be there. We sing for His Glory, not anyone else's, so the crowd size is merely a physical aspect of our surroundings. However, like all performers, we love to have as many people as possible at every performance.]
Just before taking the stage, we gathered in the wings and prayed for the performance, thanking God for allowing us the priviledge to serve Him and for the people He had brought. And then we stepped out into the theatre as the music began.
As I entered stage right to the front portion of the stage, my eyes caught their first glimpse of what our human audience for the evening would be. For a brief moment, I felt betrayed by the limited number of eyes that watched me. It's a difficult thing to explain to someone who has never taken a stage in front of an audience before. After having put so much time and energy already into this performance alone, practicing for hours to get to this performance, singing for hours to hit the right notes, blocking the scenes to best portray the events - it's easy to feel let down when a crowd is not large or is seemingly unenthused about being there. I quickly regained my focus. After all, I am not singing for fame or fortune but for the Glory of God...
Returning backstage after the opening, I took my place in the side room, accompanied by Tony (who is usually planted in the theatre, but couldn't be for this performance). We immediately talked about how this was going to be a performace that everyone was going to have to push through. With such a small crowd, participation can be expected to be low. Not to mention that it's just harder to give everything you have to a couple dozen patrons in a 500+ seat theatre. I prayed for the group as they began Act I, that they would give God all that He deserved and let the people disappear in front of them.
I entered to sing everybody is God's Child and felt pretty good about how it went. Everybody ws singing their songs and singing them really well. By the time we ended Act I with "The King", there was an excitment off stage to get back on. Vocally, things were going really well.
Act II picked up right where we left off, witht he cast doing a great job bringing life vocally to their characters. As with every performance, there are a few things that I would like to do differently next time, but overall I was pleased with the performance. I think everyone felt pretty good about how things went. We packed up the production and Lisa and I were on the road to our hotel by 11:30(which we had rented because we didn't want to have to drive the 3 hours back that late). We checked in right at midnight and fell asleep fairly quickly.
We slept in and showered, taking our time and checking out at 11. We headed across the street to the Amishland Buffet(Tuscola, IL) which is open on Sundays(Amish?). The food was really good and they had an enormous amount of desserts (pies, cookies, puddings, cakes, brownies, etc). We took our time walking around looking at the Amishland shops(not open on Sundays) with all of their amazing wood furniture. It was a nice relaxing way to start the day.
We made it home in time to go to Lisa's parents house for St. Patrick's Day/Birthday Dinner. After cornbeef and cabbage, we had key-lime pie and Deb opened the presents for her birthday. We then played the card game Golf, which is pretty fun (even though I had a terribly game).
Lisa and I made it home by 10, exhausted yet totally relaxed. It was a good weekend...
This afternoon we performed the "Isle of Dreams" at Our Lady of the Snows Shrine in Belleville, IL. It was an interesting event, because a ticket price was actually charged. (We were performing as a fund-raiser for a new church building for a local congregation.) The layout of the stage and room was interesting, with the stage coming to a point where the solo mic was and then coming back to form a triangle with the edge at the end of the line of chairs. With my chair being set behind the line of chairs and stage left, I was unable to see the cast, with the exception of the soloist at center mic and James, who was on the end nearest me. Ruth sat behind me to my left.
The first half of the perfomance was very rough. There were difficulties with the music volume in the house and monitors not being set right (even though we had gone through 3 sound checks prior to the performance). Add to this fact that soloists kept accidentally turning off the mic when they pulled it from the stand and you have a perfect recipe for chaos and jerky performances and transitions.
After the intermission (which was an overwhelming 35+ minutes long - not under our control), we came back out and performed what may have bee the best second half ever. Thankfully, everybody handled the mics correctly and seemed to get over whatever nervousness they had in the first act. Tony and I made our entrance on "Prince of Revelation" from the back of the auditorium, with him "beating" me all the way down the aisle. Our timing was a little off and I barely made it to center stage position in time to finish the Crucifixion scene, but I still feel that it went really well.
Overall, I didn't feel like this was anything near our best performance, but we pulled it out in the second half. The audience seemed to be genuinely thrilled with the performance and there were many people that came forward afterwords to express their gratitude for our performance. I was fairly pleased with my performance and vocals, but I also recognize there is always rom for improvement.
I'm glad God allows us these opportunities...
The first half of the perfomance was very rough. There were difficulties with the music volume in the house and monitors not being set right (even though we had gone through 3 sound checks prior to the performance). Add to this fact that soloists kept accidentally turning off the mic when they pulled it from the stand and you have a perfect recipe for chaos and jerky performances and transitions.
After the intermission (which was an overwhelming 35+ minutes long - not under our control), we came back out and performed what may have bee the best second half ever. Thankfully, everybody handled the mics correctly and seemed to get over whatever nervousness they had in the first act. Tony and I made our entrance on "Prince of Revelation" from the back of the auditorium, with him "beating" me all the way down the aisle. Our timing was a little off and I barely made it to center stage position in time to finish the Crucifixion scene, but I still feel that it went really well.
Overall, I didn't feel like this was anything near our best performance, but we pulled it out in the second half. The audience seemed to be genuinely thrilled with the performance and there were many people that came forward afterwords to express their gratitude for our performance. I was fairly pleased with my performance and vocals, but I also recognize there is always rom for improvement.
I'm glad God allows us these opportunities...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)