Crazy Cool

Brent and I went home this weekend to see family. Philly (short for Philadelphia Baptist, mine and Brent’s home church in the Ham) did the Glory Revealed worship service on Sunday night (I don’t want to call it a concert or performance. Though that’s what it was, it was not a performance for people, it was a performance for God). The music minister there is extremely gifted and talented. He adapted the music to fit the choir. My mom pretty much made it mandatory that we come. The music was very bluegrassy, so she knew I would LOVE it (which I did) and one of the guys that played in our wedding was playing in the service. I was reminded of how un-musically-talented I am. Actually, I have a lot of potential. I learned to play the piano a long time ago and I think I could still play theme song from Titanic if I had to. My parents gave me a guitar for my 16th birthday and despite all the times I have sat down to attempt to play the instrument, I just can’t do it. I really want to learn to play the banjo and dobro, but I know that I will never get either instrument if I have a guitar that I can’t play. I love to sing. I was in choir all through middle and high school and even some at Auburn. I don’t know if I can sing, but I do know that I love to do it. If I could pick any profession, I would want to be a songwriter and performer. That won’t happen. My mom sings and plays the piano and hammered dulcimer, my brother plays guitar (acoustic, electric, and bass) and the trumpet, and my dad can pretty much turn anything he touches into a musical instrument. He took like 2 piano lessons as a kid. The teacher told my grandmother that she was wasting her money because he wasn’t reading the music. My dad plays everything by ear. He can play anything that can carry a tune. Me, I just sing with the congregation on Sunday’s, keep my guitar in the closet and the piano in the garage. It’s sad. Very very sad. All that to say, my parents and Ben were a part of Glory Revealed and there I sat wishing I had that talent. But I didn’t really care for long because two pretty cool people decided to come to the worship service. If you know nothing about Glory Revealed, it is a book/worship music taken directly from Scripture and produced by David Nasser and Mac Powell. I already knew that Nasser was coming and I saw him sitting in the back of the sanctuary. Right before the service started, my mom ran down to me and said, “Don’t look now, but tell me if that is Mac Powell sitting back there by David Nasser.” Of course, Kristen (one of my best friends) and I looked immediately, saw him and got all giddy. We turned back around to tell my mom it was him, but she was already back in the choir loft. Before they started singing, I got my mom’s attention. I gave her a big nod and mouthed, “It’s him!” It didn’t take her long to turn beat red and smile from ear to ear. You see, she was singing one of the songs that he wrote and sang on the album. She was already nervous about the possibility of singing this song in front of him. Now that she knew that it was no longer a possibility, but a reality, she started showing signs of freaking out nervousness. She was rubbing her throat and twiddling all of her fingers. But she did a wonderful job as did everyone else. Mac said it himself. He said he is so used to performing these songs for others that it was nice to sit and listen to someone else do it. As Blair (choir member) put it, “Mac Powell came to my concert!” Afterwards, Kristen and I HAD to get a picture with him. Fortunately, Kristen always has her camera. We were too giddy to get his attention. He walked right past us and we couldn’t speak. It was like we were in 8th grade at a Backstreet Boys concert. We had to get someone else to ask Mac and Nasser if they would take a picture with us. And, well, he did. Look above. From left to right: Kristen’s sister Katie, Kristen, Mac, me, David. I was more excited that he came to my church than the fact that I got a picture with him. I mean, it’s not like Philly is a big church. It’s no where near the size of Hunterstreet in Hoover or North Point in Alpharetta or even Lindsay Lane. It’s a small church in Cahaba Heights and Mac Powell took the time to come hear Glory Revealed. I think that’s pretty cool of him.