Lecrae- Painfully Sweet!

                 Years back, my sister and her hubby gave me a Lecrae CD. I am not the rapster type, shocked I’m sure;), but I really did enjoy the CD.  Our youth group even did a couple skits using his music, they were… Off Da Hook, Off Da Hook;)  So, fast forward to present day reality- my ten year old son is showing interest in some rather loud music. Trying to expose him to Christ-centered music, I heard Lecrae was coming to town and the inner twenty year old previous self said, “Oh, you got to take him!” 

 
                 Tickets were ordered… it got snowed out and rescheduled to Murray Lovett Auditorium, almost three months later.  The same Auditorium we took a group from our church to a Gaither Gospel Concert only months prior.  We were some of the youngest people in the entire building by at least thirty years at the Gaither’s concert, but the talent we heard was extraordinary.  Several people were giving us funny looks; an older lady in the restroom asked me, “Do you even like this kind of music?” I replied, “Um… it is not my favorite, but I love music and I love Jesus, so I think it’ll be fun.” And it truly was.  
 
                   My hubby and I, along with my eight year old daughter, my ten year old son, and his buddy from school- ate a quick supper and went to their first “real” concert.  Walking up to the door of the building, I looked around and saw a sea of college aged people… a different sight from the last time we walked up the same stairs for the Gaither’s Concert.  
 
                  Long story short, we ended up in the second row, right in front of a ten foot speaker.  When the music started, the boys’ faces were priceless… they kept looking at me saying, “It is making my chest hurt!  The hair on the back of my neck is shaking!”  Paint was literally falling from the ceiling!  It was painfully loud, but they got to yelling, “Throw your hands in the air!”  The fun we had… the sights we saw… made it all worth it!  Lecrae lifted up Jesus.  The Gaither’s lifted up Jesus.  They are two radically different genres of music, but the same Spirit.  My son got to see a man who loves to get LOUD… Lecrae said, “JESUS, JESUS, JESUS!!” at one point in the concert, and I can still hear it ringing in my ears.  I pray that is the name my son can hear ringing in his ears throughout an eternity.  If it takes going to painfully LOUD concerts for my son to hear that my Jesus loves him, then we all might have some permanent hearing loss, this side of heaven;).  It didn’t stop with just my son- my daughter, my son’s friend, and the sea of college kids in that place was hearing JESUS’ Name lifted high!  What a blessing! 
 
                      No matter how old or how young, we all need to be open to the Holy Spirit.  The younger ones need to see the value and beauty in the hymns, the older ones need to see the freshness and life in the new lyrics and styles of music.  All is beautiful when Jesus is being lifted high.  Jesus died on the cross to let US… “Off Da Hook, Off Da Hook, Off Da Hook!!”  I think we can all say… Thank you Jesus!!