God
Almighty, You are Holy and worthy to be praised! For the past two weeks, I’ve felt
an overwhelming desire to attend my first Christian crusade. I first heard
about the upcoming event over the radio. “I’ve never been to a
crusade before, I thought to myself. What an incredible opportunity to witness others accepting the biblical message of the Gospel on
such a large-scale." I thought.
Not before long, I found myself sitting at my computer, searching online for more
information about the event. My favorite Christian
bands were scheduled to perform. What's more, the entire event was free and right next to our Trailer RV Park!
"I'm going!" I thought.
As
the hours passed, I encouraged my young son and husband to attend the crusade
with me. My heart grew with excitement each time my son and I visited the
Harvest Crusade website online. I couldn't
wait!
Today,
we all attended the event as a family. My husband, our youngest child and I
packed our car with sunblock and baseball hats. We left hours before the gates
were expected to open. I wanted to be certain that we would get seats.
We
were right to arrive hours before the event began. Long lines of eager
believers and unbelievers waited to enter the stadium. For hours, we waited
patiently, sometimes impatiently in the hot sun. I passed the time imagining
that we were all eagerly waiting to enter the gates of heaven. At 4:15 p.m the gates opened.
After
wandering around for 15 minutes, we took our seats, off to the left of the
stage and under an awning. We still had another hour and a half to wait before
the event would begin. I amused myself by taking the time to look around the stadium. I noticed that the outside
temperature had remained warm and comfortable, even as the sunshine turned to
starlight. I also prayed silently. Then, my husband and I enjoyed eating polish
sausage dogs while Travis devoured two regular hot dogs.
In
the moments just before the event started, I shared my personal testimony with
the couple sitting to my left. It was her
first time at a crusade too. Even more amazing, only one week prior, she had surrendered her heart
to Your Son, Jesus Christ. Time passed quickly as we excitedly spoke about our
love for our Savior!
Soon,
the first Christian artist began to play. I had never heard of this band. I tried to sing along to the worship lyrics that appeared on the stadium-sized television
screen. Then, after three or four songs, the next band began to perform. Once
again, several unfamiliar songs! Some people sitting around my seat tried to sing along, while others stood in silence,
arms raised to heaven. Could they have been waiting for just one familiar
worship song too?
Suddenly,
a third and more well-known band took the stage. "Certainly, I'll know these songs." I thought. Then, I reminded myself that I wasn't there just for the music. I was ultimately
there to worship You. So, once again, I sang along to the notes of the songs the
best I could.
Within
the first few notes of the third song, I felt my heart leap with joy. A familiar
melody! Others must have recognized the song too, because soon and in almost in
complete unison, the stadium echoed with thousands of voices singing praise to You. Such perfect harmony!
That same warm wind now carried the sound of our voices singing the words,
"Oh, how He loves us so. Oh, how He loves us. How He loves us so."
The melody flowing through me, welling my eyes with tears. Simultaneously, the
giant sized Angel's Stadium sign caught my eye. As I sang, I started to wonder
if real angels in heaven could be singing along too." Overwhelmed, the tears rolled down my cheeks. Wiping tears, many tears, I turned to my right to look at my young son's face. I
noticed that Travis was also sharing an intimate moment of worship with You.
Quickly, I grabbed my camera and did the best I could to capture the moment on
film.
During the drive home, my heart marinated in the entire event. Surprisingly, I realized that my
favorite moment of the entire night wasn't the moment that I had expected. I
had thought that witnessing thousands of lost and hurting people accepting
Jesus Christ into their hearts would leave a lasting impression. But instead, my
favorite moment occurred during that sweet song when thousands of hearts joined together to worship to You, our Father in Heaven! Oh How You deserve to hear such joyful praise! Thank You LORD, for loving me so!
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