When I was younger, some of the best times of my life were
spent participating in various music festivals.
It always felt so good to get together with young people
from other schools and work on pieces of music as one cohesive group. There were certainly challenges with those
scenarios. Pulling off a concert with so
many moving pieces presents more variables than one could imagine if they’d
never done it before.
Thanks to amazing cooperation, though, we always pulled it
off, and the shows were nearly always outstanding. More important than the music itself was the
interaction between kids who, most likely, didn’t see each other very often, if
ever.
Getting together with like-minded youths always breathed a
breath of life into my musical drive.
Those kinds of events also boosted my social demeanor, at least for a
while.
Above all that, music festivals always gave my spiritual
life a recharging that was, at times, sorely needed even if I didn’t always
know it. Whenever I left those events, I
felt like I had been blessed in some way, as if - for a short while - I could
feel the presence of God.
It is no coincidence that this feeling occurred. I found an interesting verse a few months
back that I believe explains this sort of inner feeling of spiritual
bliss.
Matthew 18:20 says, “Anywhere two or more are gathered in my
name, there am I with them.”
I have no doubt that every time I felt that inner feeling of
peace and blessing during and after a music festival, that was what had
happened. Christ had been there with us. I
believe Christ’s promise to be with those who gather in His name – regardless
of what the occasion might be.
I had the privilege of directing the band at this year’s
Southern Union Music Festival at Forest Lake Academy. This weekend’s music festival was no
different, and I couldn’t be prouder of the young people who worked so hard to
pull off a spectacular show. And once
again, it feels so good to have that feeling of peace and blessing wash over us.
Richard Hickam
No comments:
Post a Comment