First a little update from yesterday, and then the good stuff.

Sunday was good, but it felt like I was trying to worship through fog. I guess that I missed Jeff and Eddie more than I thought. Andrew did extremely well, and Ricky, Chris, and Tim seemed to be on the same page with me, but I miss those guys when they are out.

Communion is my favorite service, and this was a special one. Pastor had a couple of men from the congregation to pray over the communion, and they each had powerful stories. Details were not given, but I have had the privilege of hearing each of their testimonies before. The work of redemption that is done by God is truly a beautiful thing.

Pastor spoke on the need for Godly character. Man, the culture that I live in is full of things that do nothing to promote truth in any situation. It seems that deceit and confusion are at every turn, and it was refreshing to hear a call to separation from the pack. We are called by name to be different from the situations that try to confuse and grow delusion around us. It was a good message, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I went to a concert on Friday night to see my "kin-folk's" band - A Bullet For Pretty Boy. Their style of music is definitely hardcore, and not everyone understands their mission. In fact, there were several bands present that did not necessarily demand hours of internal reflection, but that may not be the point anyway. I think that people too often look at purpose and intent through the filters of their own likes and dislikes. The point is missed when people cannot see the validation for a cause, and that is terrible. "Punk" music or "Screamo" groups were created as a distraction from the mainstream. Their birth was intended to be so dramatically different from other forms of musical expression that they would cast a light of scrutiny on what was considered popular and good. As a result, self-expression was their seed of creativity, spawning countless derivations of pop-culture and musical freedom. The truly tremendous thing that I experienced at this concert was the gathering of nearly 300 youths under the banner of musical freedom. The intent and purpose of the concert was to break down barriers that separate the youth in today's culture of relativity from the truth of God. I believe that this was a massive success in that these teens left thinking that Jesus might not be that bad after all.

The music was excellent (if you like the kind of music that I like), and the feeling in the venue was good. I did realize early on that I was nearly 30 as it was the first concert that I have ever gone to where I was looking for a comfortable place to sit! I stood towards the back of the room and just observed the crowd. I came to the realization that intent and purpose do not mean the same thing to me as they do to the youth of the next generation. I constantly look for the intent and purpose behind things before I can commit to participation. What I saw Friday was that allowance for the expression of ones' uniqueness is the first thing that is looked at when decisions are made by our youth. Is this situation going to suffocate my personality, or trivialize my angst? Is this environment going to restrict me, or force me to take on a uniform thought process? These are just a couple of the absolutely necessary questions that today's youth culture propose to our "established" society. The issue is, we do not answer these questions accurately. We see personality and teen angst as undesirable items that need to be changed, so we don't validate the question. We see restrictive environments as stable ones, and uniform though processes give us an out for when failure is presented - the process takes the blame instead of us. I realize that it's not that we don't have the answers, it's just that we don't like or appreciate the question.

The search for a unique look was also a blatant characteristic of the group. It seemed that each person wanted to express their individual interests outwardly in extreme ways. I think that this is a method for conversation, truthfully. It seems obvious to me that the person's attire and body language help to segregate people from their circle of interaction. If the look seems ridiculous to the observer, than a potentially awkward and unwanted occurrence of contact can be avoided. Clothes, hairstyles, accessories, and body language become a billboard for advertising the person to their world of interaction. The more drastic the appearance, the less confident the person is. Oddly enough, everyone was dressed with the intent of attracting anyone at all that had similar interests. My final revelation as the concert closed was that loneliness is a powerful motivator.

I leave you with this thought - It might mean appreciating seemingly silly appearances or listening to music that you don't enjoy, but you might just be the person that someone discovers in their time of need. Who do you want the lonely to find?