Celebrate Life...

It was a Festival

Walking a greater distance to an event, along with others who excitedly head towards, food, fun, crafts, gadgets, art and the promise of great music. It is an uplifting experience that accompanies almost all festivals; this one was no exception. The location is magnificent, right on the beautiful white beach with a view of the massive blue Gulf waters that expand as far as the eye can see. It is so much to absorb that you want to hold onto that glance of utopia. It seems magical.

With my "All Access" pass, hanging from a lanyard around my neck, I felt mighty special. It was a powerful feeling, yet it was humbling at the same time.  Life is a wonderful thing.

First impressions are all we have when someone new enters our space and often those turn out to be wrong. So I have learned to go slow. I tend to keep everyone with a clean slate as they approach and as they speak and move about, I begin to write on that slate of the impression they make on me. So many times in my life I have initially misjudged; it is a process filled with land-mines that must be avoided to get through it safely.

Few people were back stage, the workers, the musicians, and me at the time. Then I realized there was a guy standing closer to me than I was comfortable with and I looked up to see if he was familiar. He was a tall, slim guy dressed like he was from Texas. Complete with boots, straw cowboy hat, and western shirt. His hair was blonde and it peaked out and poked out from all around that hat. My thoughts were that he had an almost comical look as I stepped back to have more space between us.

He stepped forward and said, “I found Jesus”. I had never laid eyes on him before and was amazed he was sharing such information before even introducing himself; which he never did.

I awkwardly said, “Hi,” then I said “I am happy for you.” He continued to talk as though he wanted me to be mute while he was deaf to all others around. I quickly got his message that he wanted to be heard, not to be listening. It was like he had information he was getting out no matter what and it had to be a one way conversation, which it turned out to be.

This perfect stranger shared with me the fact that he first found Jesus when he was serving a 5-year sentence in prison. Unfortunately, almost immediately after he was released he fell away from Jesus and went back to his old habits of bad ideas and bad behavior. By that time my participation was a smile and a nod interspersed with his talking. That was the only interaction he seemed to want from me. 

At one point during this situation, a friend walked up to hug me and speak for a moment. I was so relieved to have my attention on a smiling, familiar face and just knew my interaction with this stranger was now over. Yet, the moment my friend headed on her way, he tapped me on my right shoulder, saying, “I’m not through with my story.”

“I got into trouble again,” he said. “This time it was really bad stuff and I had 15 years to serve. Only a few days after going back to prison, there he was, waiting. Jesus was waiting on me inside those prison doors.”

I looked up at him and said, “That is wonderful”. By this time I wondered if I would ever find a way to end this conversation and have some fun. My son had finished tightening his guitar strings by then. They had been loosened when he caught his flight home from New York the afternoon before. He said, “Hey mom, its time, I’m about to head up to the stage, Do you need anything?” I told him no and I turned and went out of the fenced in area and to the audience area in front of stage in anticipation of his show. 

I did not talk to the cowboy any more but I did see him talking to others at the festival. I wondered was he sharing the same things with them he had shared with me.

I must admit I was nervous as I stood there. It was certainly not because he was speaking of Jesus, it was due to the fact he had a very tense, very deep and dark sort of vibe about him. I could feel great tension and even an angry feeling coming from him that made me uneasy to say the least. 

Hey, we were at a festival, I wanted to be festive, eat good food and hear some good music, so that is where my attention drifted. I had a great time.