A Swift Kick in the Pants...

I had a very interesting weekend.
My friend's Eric and Brad and I were going to Halifax for the weekend to play with singer/song-writer, Matt Brouwer. Matt (an old JSB friend and Truro, NS native) is home for the holidays (by way of Houston, TX) and will be playing some shows in Atlantic Canada during his stay. Brad, Eric, and I were his musicians for the weekend; a 3-service concert-series (Sat. @ 6:30pm, and Sun. @ 9am & 11am) at Stoneridge Community Church in Lower Sackville, NS (whose vibrancy, kindness, and passion deserve a blog of its own). Anywho…

Minutes before the three of us were leaving Moncton for Halifax, I got a frantic call from Matt's manager informing me that Matt was stuck in New Jersey (where he had played the night before) at the airport because all flights were cancelled to the big storm they had. In a last-minute decision, Matt decided to rent a car and drive 15 hours from New Jersey to Halifax to be able to make the 9:00am service. This, of course, meant he would not be able to make Saturday evening's service. Matt's manager asked me if I could put something together to fill Matt's empty slot as the church had no back-up plan for Matt's absence. Matt’s manager seemed no longer frantic, but certainly it passed onto me. So, I threw 10 or so powerpoint slides on a CD, we packed the cars with our gear, and hopped on the road. On the way down, I called our friend Tammy and asked if she was busy that night. Luckily, she was able to help us out and she came and played some acoustic & sang with me.

Although I got us lost in Sackville twice, forgot to bring cash for the Cobequit Toll, and drove in Nova Scotia while talking on my cell phone (which is illegal there) we finally made it to the church about 1.25 hours later than expected. Regardless, Carl & Brad (our sound/PPT techs for the weekend), welcomed us with open arms and made our setup/soundcheck experience very easy and thorough. After choosing a few songs and barely rehearsing them, we met briefly with the leadership staff before the service began and they were very appreciative and encouraging with our “hurried” situation. My nerves began to physically show as I started to worry whether everything would work out. We prayed and went on stage...

When we were introduced as not being Matt Brouwer, you could tell there was a little bit of disappointment in the room. Not because of who we were, but who we were not. Also, I think there were some friends of family of Matt’s in the audience who were hoping to see him. When I got up to the mic, I was sure to try and break the “unfamiliarity barrier” as soon as I could. Luckily, they didn’t hiss or boo.

Without getting into a lot of detail about how the service went, all I can say that God is gracious and compassionate. The congregation accepted us immediately and (without invitation) were standing, clapping, and singing aloud with us. They even clapped after a few songs which is seldom heard during a worship set. Just when I thought my humble offerings of worship would be meaningless and serve only to fill Matt’s absence, God used my/our abilities to lead a group of people into a place of honest worship. Maybe our musicianship & arrangements didn’t blow any minds, but He used our small group of 4 and whole-heartedly lead some people into a holy moment. I can’t thank God enough for teaching me a big lessons here.

Despite my frantic efforts to make something like that work and make it memorable, he made the simplicity and sincerity of it to bless me. While I’m sure he blessed others through it as well, it truly blessed me like I had never been blessed before. It also served as a swift kick in the pants for me to put a bit more trust in him than I did on my drive to Halifax. I took my own abilities for granted and left little room for God to take care of the small stuff. But, when push came to shove, I believe God worked a tough situation into a holy moment for me (& the band).