The Things You Don't Expect

A persistent friend told me I should definitely go to LifeLight this year. But I don't like crowds...or traffic congestion...or the masses... Knowing I needed to release myself from the small town for at least an evening, I took the drive anyway.

M found me near the gate, and we chatted as we walked along. He has much energy. He scares me sometimes. However, he's someone I'd follow almost anywhere--he'll challenge you to your limits, but he watches for when to back off.

Closer...closer to the front we went...but parallel to the masses encased in orange plastic fencing.

"See that tent?" he pointed. My eyes went to the edge of the stage. "That's where we're going." He handed me a security tag with "ALL ACCESS" printed across it.

I didn't say much that was intelligible as we waved our tags at the security guards who manned the backstage gate. He prodded me up the steps and we stopped at the top. There, in their early 80's style gym shorts and glory, were Jars of Clay.




I spent the first ten minutes on stage texting friends who were in the audience and elsewhere. It occurred to me that I wasn't watching Jars as much as I was watching my phone, so I calmed down and put it away. And I sat there and relished it, perched atop equipment boxes with M. The music was loud, the wind blew my hair, and it was just perfect.

Heading home a couple hours later, I was still rejoicing. I wanted to call everyone I know. "Guess what! I was on stage with Jars of Clay!" I didn't, but it got me thinking.

My urges toward proclamations had nothing to do with me--just with who I know. M worked with LifeLight people, which had perks--an extra access tag being one of them. The tag allowed me past security, and there I was.

Who you know...huh... Heaven isn't anything I'm going to get into on my own. No way I can make it past security. But it's Who I know, and the work He's done, that gives me "ALL ACCESS" to life everlasting. He hands me the tag of His blood, I take it, and there I am.

I wonder if my enthusiasm is skewed about some things. Okay, I don't wonder--I've been hit with it. Why am I not as excited about being rescued from eternal damnation (a little bit like being stuck in a crowd of 70,000 people) as I am about being on a platform with a bunch of guys who jump around and make music?

Maybe not cognizant enough of my own sin? I know I'm a peon at LifeLight. Nobody would let me in without that pass. But that's not even the gate of the Almighty...