Then and Now

It was April 1999 when Joel, Ashlea, Ty, and I paid top dollar to have second row seats at a Newsboys concert at the former Saginaw Civic Center. The Supertones (are they still around?) were the warm-up for the Newsboys' "Step Up to the Microphone" concert. All the visuals are coming back to me...Furler's stage energy, Phil Joel's long blond locks, the revolving tilting drum stage, the light show. Yeah, that was a great concert! Last night, ten years later, Joel and I attended our second Newsboys' concert at the same venue, now called the Dow Event Center...this time in the arena, not the theater. This concert was part of their REACH concert series, "free" evangelistic concerts to benefit Global Tribe Missions. (Family Life Radio sponsored the concert and asked for a $10.00 donation to help cover expenses.) So what had changed in that decade? The warm-up bands were Vota and DecembeRadio, both very talented groups. As for the Newsboys, Peter Furler was still in rare form, though a wee-bit slower in moving around the stage. Phil Joel is no longer with the band, but the other band members were the same. Instead of being front and center with the bouncing crowd, Joel and I were in an upper level with other "middle-agers," enjoying much of the concert from our seats. I'm just glad I had my glasses! And there was no encore...maybe they were tired too. This concert series is the last with Furler as the lead singer (Michael Tait will be replacing him), so I'm so glad we went! Actually, we were there in part because the rescue mission benefited from a food drive that was done in conjunction with the concert, as if we needed an excuse. ;) And that leads me to this anecdote...

Marcia called me at home yesterday morning and asked if Joel would be available to be the Newsboys' private chauffeur for about twenty-four hours. Seems that Family Life Radio overlooked that little detail, so when she and Dave from FLR were brainstorming, Joel was the first person that came to her mind. What an opportunity! I told Marcia that Joel was at work, so I didn't think he would be available. Then I said, "I suppose the chauffeur should be a male, right?" She laughed, and said, "Yes, Jeannette." You know...sometimes it just doesn't pay to be a woman!