Randy and I had the awesome opportunity Friday night to go see Hillsong United. And before I even get started on this post let me just say that it was beyond amazing. Beyond what I expected. I love their music and I love going to concerts but this was more than a concert. It, to me, was a glimpse of what Heaven is going to be...
Randy and I were sitting outside the coliseum waiting for our friend Josh to get their and give us our tickets. We had gone to Steak-n-Shake for dinner and we had been discussing what kind of people would be at a Hillsong concert. We've been to a lot of different concerts and you would expect to see different people at a Disciple concert than at let's say a Point of Grace concert. So as we were standing outside waiting we were kind of people watching. Something I love to do. We saw old couples. We saw youth groups. We saw red-neck, middle aged men. We saw a huge group of Asian teenagers. We saw parents with their elementary aged kids. We saw free-spirited college kids. We saw Black people. We saw Hispanic people. We saw people who appeared to be very wealthy and also people who looked not so well off. People from so many different walks of life.
Our friend showed up and we went inside, found our seats, and were gearing up for a concert that Randy has been waiting years to be a part of. It was awesome. They played for two HOURS and 45 minutes. It was insane.
At one point about half way through the concert I stopped singing, opened my eyes and just took in the sight in front of me. Just picture with me over 10,000 people. Old couples. Youth groups. Red-neck, middle aged men. Asian teenagers. Parents with their elementary aged kids. Free-spirited college kids. Black people. Hispanic people.People who appeared to be very wealthy and also people who looked not so well off. People from so many different walks of life. Eyes closed. Hands raised. Voices shouting praises to our God. The same God who holds the universe in His hands and at the same time knows the number of hairs on each individual person's head. It was a glimpse of Heaven.
It reminded me of the study in Philippians we are doing right now with our small group. A few weeks ago we talked about how the start of the Philippian church was pretty much a rich Asian lady named Lydia, a demon-posessed girl and a Roman jailor who was probably more than just a little rough around the edges. And God met each one of them where they were and brought them to Himself. Jesus Christ and His love is what brought unity to three people who probably never would have known each other much less started a church together and called each other brother and sister. It was amazing to see Friday night how God brought together that many people. That many people from so many different walks of life. All because of His love and what He did for us. We can have that unity because of the love of Christ that is inside us.
I don't know what we are going to look like in heaven. I don't know if we are going to have the same skin color as we do now or if we are going to be the same age we are now. I don't know any of these things. But I do know that when we get there, all we are going to do is fall to our knees and sing praises to our God. Our soul purpose...our soul desire...will be to glorify our God.
Friday night I was given a glimpse of Heaven and all I can say is I can't wait for the real thing!
So very sad I missed it. I remember the first week Randy was at CIU and he related to me how he had fallen to his knees in tears at one of their assemblies as they sang praises. It seems that all around him in that assembly were people from different nations and tongues and he could hear all of them in their own language singing and exalting the Lord. What an awesome experience. Love you guys!
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