I’m sitting amidst the dressing room trailers at Spirit West Coast. The guys from Third Day are talking about recycling and one of the girls from Barlow Girl is singing intervals and vowels in prep for their set in about 45 minutes.

Personally, I’m taking a break. After a couple of days, I was offered some time to sit and kick back until the evening sets begin…. so I’m doing just that.

What’s been really uplifting for me so far?

Prayer time with Jeremy, he’s a youth pastor and here helping to direct a youth conference (Ammunition Conference) now taking place at SWC each year. He gave the opening devotion and we prayed together before his message.

Prayer with the Stage Crew before setup this morning. A bunch of guys working really hard to get the message out front while they stand in back.

Helping a little kid make his way to the restroom, then standing outside the door while he finished… made sure he washed his hands, of course . and that he took the right path back to the Hospitality tent (his parents were serving there.) The deal was I did not know him. I was talking to a lady volunteer when this little guy came strolling by with no-one else in sight. We looked at each other ??? and nodded with out words. I followed along at that point. He was just journeying on his own (I think he was about 4).

The first band: Building 429 (because you can tell humility when you see it). These guys lifted up God the entire set and reminded all to come to the cross.

Lunch with Kevin. He’s one of two department heads in IT and even though I didn’t know him before the event, this is one of those occasions where you keep running into the same guy over and over and over again ALL over the festival. I got the feeling we were going to hang out some and have a few lunches together. Great guy. Godly man, father, husband.

Scripture: all of John 10

Looking ahead…

Natalie Grant. I’ve never seen her live. On record, she’s seems (to my ear) to be someone intensely committed to every single composition she sings. I’m looking forward to hearing her. Mostly, I’m curious how she translates the emotion I’ve heard from the studio into communication with an audience.

Volunteers: as one of “very many” volunteers, I’ve really been touched by the level of devotion, genuine good nature and friendship among all the volunteers here. The joy of bringing Christ to the participants of this event, the audience, the kids… is apparent in every “volunteer” face I see. You hear it in their words. You see it in their faces. The same theme runs through conversations. The theme: God is good and God will continuously get the glory here at SWC.

This is me on vacation… at Spirit West Coast “Monterey”.

back soon as I can….