A Lifetime

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This one isn’t much about today, but in my opinion, is a much better story. We’re in “Just-off-the-interstate, Iowa” now.

Last night, as I was lying in bed waiting for sleep to overtake me, I was thinking about the journey that got me here. Honestly, it was quite impressive how God orchestrated it all. I started thinking just of recent things, but it kept going farther and farther back, how God was preparing me and guiding me to this point in my life. For those of you who haven’t heard it, let me let you in to a bit of it. We’ll be working backward, for those of you who are fans of timelines.

First off, I’m on this tour right now because last March, the producer asked me if I’d like to come back, and I committed to the next two tours, taking us through April of 2009. Seems simple enough.

I came on tour because a long-time friend of mine, Marci, had just been on the road with the Choir for about 14 months and insisted I go. At that time, she had also been hired onto staff with the organization and recruiting became part of her job. She told me about this new theatre show the Choir was doing on Christmas Eve 2007. It was nothing I had ever thought about. That night, I told only two people- so I could bounce ideas off them and have them to pray with me- and I started some hard-core praying and decision-making. (Thanks Dale and Joe for processing with me and encouraging me.) Within a week, when I met with Marci again, I was pretty sure I was going to go, and two weeks later I was on a plane bound for North Carolina. I didn’t know who was going to pick me up there or even have a phone number of someone to call if no one did! It was a ride.

But God’s story goes back farther than that.

In June of 07, I graduated from college at the ripe old age of 19. Now what?

In August of 06, I was questioning my major and considering changing. I had fasted for 3 months from two things I love, in obedience to God, though I didn’t know why. At the end of that, I got an answer to prayer. (In March of that year, I had asked God for an audible voice to answer some of the questions I had.) A pastor for Bend, Oregon asked a simple question and I casually answered it while finishing up preparing for the evening. He told me he felt he’d received a word from the Lord for me. After he told me what it was, I stopped dead in my tracks.

With one statement, I knew what the next phase of my like would look like. And it was quite audible.

In it, I felt God whisper, “After you finish school, take some time off to travel. Learn quick obedience. If I say ‘jump’ be ready to jump. If I say ‘A plane to Haiti tomorrow,’ don’t question me.” April of 07 found me in New York City, November of that year, I fell in love with Germany. There was a short road trip with a pack of high school students to the West side in August as well. Then, I was ready for the biggest adventure up to this point.

But when I was 17 and preparing to enter a 4-year university with lots of math and science credits, thinking biology would be a good choice, God had a different thought. On His cue, I changed my major to theatre- with no idea what that meant.

The only reason I considered theatre in the first place was because I had been learning lots about sound and lights at church (thanks Uncle Dave and Dale and company). The previous summer, I had thought about interning but thought I had to wait until I was out of high school, but while working on things for camp, Uncle Dave asked me about it. It was a whirlwind couple of weeks before the internship started!

But the only reason I did the internship, or even started doing anything technical, was that my best friend at the time, Mariah, on a whim, asked me if I wanted to take the sound class. My response was something along the lines of, “I have nothing better to do on Saturdays.” At the same time, we were being challenged to grow deeper and to lead by our youth pastor Joe, who taught us more often than I could ever count that in order to be a leader, you have to be a servant. Something we learned from watching him live.

She and I met because I decided to go to youth group all by myself one time when I was 12, and she was there and Kenna introduced us. We hit it off straight away. But the reason I was at youth group that night was at the encouragement of my cousin, Willow, whom I had spent some time with that summer. I met her at the Gorge for Creation, a weekend of Christian concerts, and hung out with her and her new husband and the high school students they brought with them. It was lots of fun, and in the course of our conversations, she mentioned that I should get plugged into the youth group. For that simple act and conversation, I am grateful.

So that takes us to 1999. Guess what? God was connecting dots even before then!

When I was 2 or 3 or something, Willow came to live with us for high school. When she graduated, she went of to college, and somewhere in the mix, found Jesus (and then Rob.)

So I guess my journey to touring really started when my grandparents, who I never met, got married and decided Spokane would be a good place to raise their three boys. One being Willow’s dad, and one being mine.

There are so many other little conversations and events that I’d love to include, but thinking about this simply left me in awe of our Creator and how much he loves us and is working things together, way beyond what we could see or imagine.

So, there you have it. From rural Minnesota, to Spokane, to the Gorge at George, to youth group and sound class, interning and two colleges, camp, New York, Germany, somewhere around 35 states for tour (though I’ve now been to 47, and soon to be 50!) up to now. Not to mention the dozens of people who have invested in me and taught me and challenged me to get me to this point.

What a ride!

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