Twila Night - God To The Rescue Again

Some of you have heard parts of this story before. However unbeknown to me there was one final chapter to be played out yet to make it complete. Many of you are aware that I am quite a Twila Paris fan. She only tours about once every 3 or 4 years, so it becomes a priority when she is near and in concert, to seize the opportunity or sit in waiting for 3 more years.

When I first became aware that she would be in near by Chicago I began to poll my troops to see who was interested in attending with us. Between friends and family, there is a group of about 15 of us that are regular concert goers. Jumping on it early I figured I had some time before I had to worry about tickets being sold out. So I just put the word out and really didn't pursue getting solid commitments right away.

Then one night I jumped in the car after work turning on the radio just in time to hear the chilling news, "The Twila Paris concert for October 22nd has been sold out, but not to worry, we will be carrying the event live here on WMBI." What ? What ? NO - NO - I haven't even started to purchase tickets yet. I panicked " Oh God no, I am going to miss my sweetheart for the first time in my life !!" My heart sunk to an all time low !

On the way home I was filled with anger and regret. How could I have been so lax in this matter ? I became very upset with myself and wasn't sure just what to do next. Others were depending on me too. So now what ? In between bitterness and depression I began thinking of where I might catch up with her further out from our region. The Kellys have been known to chase down a good Christian concert up to 175 miles and take a day off from work to do it! However this will change everyone's plans and be more difficult to coordinate.

At some point on the trip home that night my recent growth in the Lord kicked in and I came to my senses. I turned the matter over to God and simply asked, "Okay Lord, what is your plan here? What do you want me to do next? You know where I am on this, I trust You have the matter in Your hands, and there is a reason for this." It is so reassuring to know that God is interested in every aspect of our lives, every detail. After all He is our Father, and is always watching over us. He knowsEVERYTHING, down to the number of hairs on our head. He will take good care of us in ALL situations.

So when I arrived home I checked Twila's web site for tour dates and locations. I was hoping she would be in some location within a 200 mile radius. I had checked this site not long before and there really wasn't much around our location outside of the now sold out Chicago date. However, I was in for a BIG surprise. As I scrolled down the page my eye caught a town that was not there a week or so ago. The revised page now showed that she would be appearing in Munster, Indiana at the Family Christian Center on November 2nd !!! What ? What ? Can't be ! Big \par names don't come to the little town of Munster, a neighboring town about 8 miles from our home. But there is was in back and white, or blue and white as the case was.

This changed my whole perspective on the situation. The Father knew best. He always has our best interests in mind. Oh Lord you just AMAZE ME !! Chicago was going to be a nightmare for parking and seating. They were offering general admission only. This meant going there way ahead of time, finding parking in a difficult area of the city, and waiting in line for decent seats. Not fun. The Munster location was going to be so much easier. But this was just the start of the blessings our Lord would pour out on this situation. But again it would require more trust. \par \par Arriving at the Family Christian Center we went immediately to our seats. "Joan you sit here in D314, John you can be next to her in 315, Nancy you in D316 and I will be right next to you in D317. Just then we looked down at the seat marking plates and realized, THERE WAS NO D316 !! The seats were mistakenly marked wrong and they completely skipped D316. It jumped from D315 to D317. Panic time !!! We were sold a ticket for a seat that didn't exist! By the way, here is an interesting observation. Row D was the fourth row back from the front. John's gospel is the fourth gospel. And we all know what significance the number 316 has for us ! "For God so loved '85." Not a good seat to extract from a new church !

The ushers could see we had some sort of a problem going on so they came over to investigate. The manager on duty came down and verified the error and went to check the computer and make new arrangements. With that Nancy and I stepped out in the lobby to get a soda. We could see it wasn't going to be a full house that night so we knew we would have seats somewhere, but where they would be we just weren't sure. When we returned to the seating area we were given quite a surprise. The manager and ushers had juggled things around for us and gave our group 4 seats in the very first row just left of center !! My friend John remarked, "They gave us an offer we couldn't refuse, and you have just fulfilled a lifetime dream - Front Row for Twila !"

We sat down, the lights dimmed, and it suddenly became my own personal concert. Directly in front of us sat 4 violinists dressed in formal wear from the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra. They were on the floor just in front of me. I was close enough to turn their pages if I had to! Wow! what a moment. Our church's handbell choir would soon be doing a pops concert with this group! Twila's concert that night was the best I have ever seen out of the five we had been to spanning a period of eight years. The building was new. The church was constructed with \par producing large theatrical events in mind so the acoustics were state of the art. This was the first concert I could hear every word (yes EVERY word) perfect. The music wasn't too laud or too muffled, it was PERFECT ! \par \par When Twila would step toward the front of the stage, my view was such that her slim silhouette was framed perfectly between the two violin bows in font of me. As they gracefully swayed back and forth for a number of her songs, it was as if Twila was being serenaded at her own concert. During one of her slow mellow songs I slipped back in time to when we first saw her some eight years ago at Edmond Chapel in Wheaton, Illinois. "My my" I thought, "we sure have come a long way since I first saw you step onto a stage. You were the one who started it all! You were the one that started an explosion in my heart for the Lord, and it is still going on today. Because of you and your wonderful music continually echoing in my heart, I have come to know a very good, merciful, and supportive God. A God that guided me out of a very evil environment and found for me a p lace of peace and a future filled with hope. A God that took me far beyond my limited horizons to show me what I was capable of when I completely put my trust in Him. Thanks Twila, you are still the best in my book."

So there you have it. Once again the Lord rescued me. In a matter of a few weeks we went from NO concert to FRONT ROW concert. Never say it is over, until it is over. God bless you all.

In our Father's love,

George

Art work by DANNY HAHLBOHM