Making A Connection

The long-awaited and highly anticipated CD release party for Longing For Eden has come and gone.  The band members are taking this week to refresh, regroup and start preparing for the next recording session which is coming up in a couple of weeks.  Over the last few days, I have enjoyed listening to and reading about the reactions of various attendees to the concert, and have noticed that many of the comments had to do with how the band connected with the listeners.  The words "real" and "authentic" were recurring themes in many of the comments that I saw and heard.  One of my co-workers told me how her husband had very reluctantly come with her, lamenting all the while that "I can't believe I'm going here.  You know this isn't my style of music."  He had himself convinced that he was going to be miserable the entire time.  She told me that afterward, she asked him, "Honest opinion; what did you think?"  He told her that he surprisingly enjoyed the music and the show, but the thing that struck him most was how "real" the band was, because they shared their struggles and their less-than-perfect life stories of past addictions and brokenness, as well as the grace and hope and love that pursued them in the person of Jesus.  This is only one of many stories with the same theme that I have been hearing.  I'm not sure if anyone else experienced this, but I was approached by several people afterward who shared their own stories of brokenness, and was able to minister God's love and grace to them.  I am so excited to continue this journey and to see where God takes us next!