If you asked me what a perfect day in my life would look like, it would ALWAYS include an outdoor music festival or a carnival, preferably the one in some desolate parking lot with the shadiest rides possible. The kind of rides that have been folded up and driven across country so many times that the rides are actually being held together by safety pins. It's only a legit carnival if you get dizzy from the smell of Lysol on the seats rather than the ride itself. My motto for quite sometime has been "If I'm going down today then let be on carnival ride." If you know me well, then you know I'm completely obsessed with parties of any kind. In fact, some people probably would say I'm a little bit irresponsible when it comes to parties. If I'm in charge of throwing the party its go big or go home. Sometimes its too big. sometimes I go a little too far. Anyway this is why music festivals and carnivals rock my world. They are after all just giant parties. There are a million things about these giant parties that inspire me. You can call me a hippie but at a concert the mentality is always "whats yours is mine." Blankets and picnics are shared. My friends become your friends. My favorite songs becomes our favorite songs. Laughter, joy, and even dancing are shared and lets be honest even some not so beneficial things are shared in some peoples circles. This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a ton of great concerts. We started Thursday night and continued through late Saturday night. Over the weekend I made a dozen new friends and sang and danced to my hearts content. The highlight of the entire weekend definitely occurred on Saturday. The Flaming Lips were putting on a free show here in Denton and there was a great turn out. We arrived when the gates opened and spread our blanket along side the masses. It was only a matter of hours and our blanket was deemed useless because of how large our group had gotten. Each friend brought a friend or two and we had quite a crew. As the show began I stood shoulder to shoulder with dear friends and new friends. I looked across the crowd and I saw thousands of people with thousands of differences but millions of similarities all singing in unison, I got "chill bumps", I often do in this type of setting. As the confetti sprayed across the crowd, balloons bounced, and music reverberated in my chest, the Lord whispered to my heart " child, if you think this is a party just wait til your homecoming." This is not the first time I've had this vision but perhaps the only time I've felt I might have captured a glimpse of it with my camera. My small, earthly mind will not ever be able to fathom what a great display the creator of the universe will come up with for our homecoming. The picture I've posted is the best example my naive eyes have yet seen, but I can bet on The Lord with assurance He will throw the greatest party the universe has ever fathomed. He brought to my mind in that moment Saturday night the story of the prodigal son. My favorite part is in Luke 15:20-24, it reads " but while he was still along way off, his Father saw him and had compassion for him; he ran to his son threw his arms around him and kissed him." And then it says, in so many words, he decided to throw a bad ass party to celebrate! Some of you may be offended by my words of choice here but if you are you may know nothing of biblical parties, they were way cooler than what we throw here. I mean they shut it down, literally like whole towns for months. This story is what I love about the gospel. It doesn't matter where you have been or what you have done. It doesn't matter if you've squandered your inheritance and are covered in fifth. Be assured my friends when you head home he will see you coming and he WILL have a party waiting. If I could post a song that could accompany these thoughts it would be "Welcome Home" by Radical face. My favorite verse says:
peel the scars from off my back
I don't need them anymore
you can throw them out or keep them in your mason jars
I've come home
These beautiful words paint the picture of sanctification for me. This life process of trials and tests, hurts and pains will all be worth it one day my friends. We will peel the scars from off our backs, after all Jesus was the first to peel the scars off his back after rising from the dead. He went home to prepare a party for us and it will be like none the world has ever seen :) We will meet him soon. Until then I will attend as many music festivals and carnivals as possible to stir my affections for my creator and to give me just enough of a glimpse of heaven to spur me on to finish the race.
