two weekends ago i had some awesome opportunities to meet some of my favorite favorites. first, jesse had been at the national youth workers' convention all weekend but obviously couldn't go on sunday morning due to church. i gave him a good old fashioned "sucks for you, but that sounded lame as hell anyway." he then told me how bummed he was to be missing out because the speaker was donald miller (aka our favorite jesus writer) and david crowder band (aka one of our top 3 jesus musicians) was doing the worship.
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so i skipped church, took the ticket and went in jesse's place. it was really awesome. for some reason even though all the people there have the exact same job as my husband and probably share more similar beliefs with me than some of my best friends, for some reason i just saw them all as crazy right-wing nerds and stuck to myself the whole time. (if you're gonna judge, i figure a blanket judgement is the way to go).
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i typically hate concerts because the musicians that i love because of their cd's decide that while playing live they will make their songs sound as different as humanly possible from the recorded versions and still be called the same song. my brother will probably disown me for saying that since he is mr. "going to shows" and hearing phish play a 14 minute version of a 4 minute song. luckily david crowder band live sounds exactly like their cd's. i know that i am weird and most people wouldn't pay money to see a group sound exactly like the cd they already bought, but this time i didn't pay money. so it was like listening to my cd's really loud and with special lights. DC is the goatiest of men but he is quite the singer/songwriter. the only thing that would have been better was if i didn't have Clappy McForgetthewords enthusiastically belting out every bar of every song directly behind me.
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donald spoke about his newest book, "a million miles in a thousand years." it was the last stop for him on his 65 city book tour and he was going home to portland right after talking to us. after he spoke, donald was signing books and talking to folks so i got in line. as i was getting closer, one of his helper dudes came up the line and said they were super late for their flight and that we needed to have books and cameras ready and limit our conversation. this was alarming to me since i was already having trouble coming up with a lead-off sentence to say to this semi-famous, totally-adored (by me) stranger to make him realize how cool i am and how i just knew we would be best buddies if only there was more time even without the time constraint.
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i made it to the front and naturally made a huge dork of myself as is standard practice in my life (i have had hangin' with mr. cooper flee, running, from my presence, gabrielle reece make fun of me to my face and have actually invited billy joel to come to one of my volleyball games). i did manage to squeak out something about his most recent book blowing my mind. it's all about making the story you are living a good one. i read it about a month after posting this about my story sucking lately and it was like he managed to 100% NAIL what i had been trying to squeeze out of my own heart with about 437 times the eloquence and depth.
.
if you like donald or nienie or me i HIGHLY recommend buying it in the next 11 seconds. i promise it's not lame christian writing. that's the thing i love about old don (we are tight now), he writes about his own life and things intrinsic to the human experience/heart that really make you just think. he never jams jesus down your throat but instead just says, here's how it was for me and here's some stuff straight out of the bible and here's some things about life and they just all fit together and make you go, um YES! i think most of his books would be highly enjoyable even to someone who didn't believe in jesus because he's so honest and witty and self-deprecating. he's the literary equivalent of classical music for me: easy and enjoyable and beautiful and relaxing to listen to casually, but with tons of depth that can be unpacked if you examine closer or put some real thought into the music. somehow he is still single. ladies, wake up!
.
.
so i skipped church, took the ticket and went in jesse's place. it was really awesome. for some reason even though all the people there have the exact same job as my husband and probably share more similar beliefs with me than some of my best friends, for some reason i just saw them all as crazy right-wing nerds and stuck to myself the whole time. (if you're gonna judge, i figure a blanket judgement is the way to go).
.
i typically hate concerts because the musicians that i love because of their cd's decide that while playing live they will make their songs sound as different as humanly possible from the recorded versions and still be called the same song. my brother will probably disown me for saying that since he is mr. "going to shows" and hearing phish play a 14 minute version of a 4 minute song. luckily david crowder band live sounds exactly like their cd's. i know that i am weird and most people wouldn't pay money to see a group sound exactly like the cd they already bought, but this time i didn't pay money. so it was like listening to my cd's really loud and with special lights. DC is the goatiest of men but he is quite the singer/songwriter. the only thing that would have been better was if i didn't have Clappy McForgetthewords enthusiastically belting out every bar of every song directly behind me.
.
donald spoke about his newest book, "a million miles in a thousand years." it was the last stop for him on his 65 city book tour and he was going home to portland right after talking to us. after he spoke, donald was signing books and talking to folks so i got in line. as i was getting closer, one of his helper dudes came up the line and said they were super late for their flight and that we needed to have books and cameras ready and limit our conversation. this was alarming to me since i was already having trouble coming up with a lead-off sentence to say to this semi-famous, totally-adored (by me) stranger to make him realize how cool i am and how i just knew we would be best buddies if only there was more time even without the time constraint.
.
i made it to the front and naturally made a huge dork of myself as is standard practice in my life (i have had hangin' with mr. cooper flee, running, from my presence, gabrielle reece make fun of me to my face and have actually invited billy joel to come to one of my volleyball games). i did manage to squeak out something about his most recent book blowing my mind. it's all about making the story you are living a good one. i read it about a month after posting this about my story sucking lately and it was like he managed to 100% NAIL what i had been trying to squeeze out of my own heart with about 437 times the eloquence and depth.
.
if you like donald or nienie or me i HIGHLY recommend buying it in the next 11 seconds. i promise it's not lame christian writing. that's the thing i love about old don (we are tight now), he writes about his own life and things intrinsic to the human experience/heart that really make you just think. he never jams jesus down your throat but instead just says, here's how it was for me and here's some stuff straight out of the bible and here's some things about life and they just all fit together and make you go, um YES! i think most of his books would be highly enjoyable even to someone who didn't believe in jesus because he's so honest and witty and self-deprecating. he's the literary equivalent of classical music for me: easy and enjoyable and beautiful and relaxing to listen to casually, but with tons of depth that can be unpacked if you examine closer or put some real thought into the music. somehow he is still single. ladies, wake up!
.
love him! his jacket was suede and oh so soft. i may have hugged him twice and rubbed his back while this was being taken. i am a CREEPER!
at
9:09 AM
So jealous!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my favorite posts ever. First, I am way impressed and proud of you for going to this shindig by yourself. Second, funniest ever: "Clappy McForgetthewords." Ohhh, those people.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I am highly intrigued by your celeb-blunder list and the stories behind these teasers.
Great pic too.. I can only hope he got the back-rub. Still loving the glasses.
I'm sure I would have been right there hugging and rubbing his back too--what a looker!! Thankfully,we already have our own lookers, so we're set, right?!?
ReplyDelete