I wanted to take this insomnious (yep, just made up a new word too) opportunity to talk about my first tour with The Waiting Kind...
I spent the past three weeks driving around in a van with my best friends; we played some music, too. I met some amazing people and worshiped our God for all the incredible blessings He's graced us with.
Tour life was pretty much what I expected it to be. Imagine youth camp but you stay in hotel rooms and instead of 4 days, it last for 17. Oh and you get to do the thing you love the most in the world, every day. Ya, it was incredible.
On a more serious note, I want to share an incredible story of God's provision from this tour...
We left Maricopa, AZ one morning and were headed towards Yucca Valley, CA to our next gig when the van died. I pulled over to the shoulder, Dustin got on the phone and we waited. It was 110 outside and 115 in the van where we hid ourselves from the scorching desert sun. There were no towns for 50 miles in either direction. We had three large bottles of water to share between the four of us but as Dustin hung up with roadside assistance, reporting an hour wait for a tow, they seemed like dixie cups. I would be lying if I told you I didn't ponder the possibility of us dying.
After the first hour, the heat was starting to take it's toll. Derek was in bad shape and the rest of us were getting there. Derek had called his dad to let him know what was going on and before he hung up, he told him they were praying for something to happen; a cloud, rain...
Flies filled the inside of our van. Seriously, at least 40 of them. It was straight out of a movie. At one point, a police officer pulled along side us to ask if we had any children with us. When we replied "no," he was on his way.
Staring out the window, I saw what looked like drops of water on our windshield. I dismissed it, thinking it must have come from a passing car and then I heard little thuds upon the roof of the van. We asked each other, "Did you guys hear that?" and got out of the van.
As I stepped out of the van and into the desert, I felt drops of rain land on my shoulders. Growing up in Southern CA, I've experienced rain on sunny days a few times, but never like this. This wasn't hot rain, it was cold rain. The drops multiplied and turned into a downpour. We literally started dancing there on the side of the road. I don't even know how many times I said, "This doesn't happen. This is impossible." We lifted our hands to the heavens and thanked God. We thanked Him for the miracle we were in the middle of. We danced until our clothes were soaked, until we were soggy and cold. Passers by must have thought we were crazy.
We found out later that Derek's dad got off the phone and called a prayer group. They prayed for rain. Wow.
Finally after two hours of waiting, our tow arrived. The rain stopped at that very moment. Also at that moment, a semi passed slowly and threw us bottles of water. I wish that could have been the happy ending but it isn't...
A two-semi crash on the highway backed us up for seven hours in the nothing town of Desert Center, CA. It was miserable but at the same time, surreal. At one point, I took out my acoustic and started playing. A stranger joined me and asked, "Do you know any Bright Eyes?" I told him yes and we played "The First Day of My Life" together. It was my beautiful moment in the midst of the waiting and boredom. I am still so thankful for that.
We departed with our truck at 10:30, and arrived at a Pep Boys Auto Repair around 11:30 p.m. We slept in the van. It was terrible. Ha ha. Repair costs the next day came to $367 and as Dustin was waiting in line to pay a woman and her husband asked him if he was in a band. He said yes and told them we were called The Waiting Kind. It turned out the couple was from the church we were supposed to play the night before (40 miles away). They found out about our horrendous day via facebook and said everyone at the church was praying for us. They met us in the parking lot, we said goodbye and Dustin got in the car. He turned to us and said with a look of shock on his face, "They just gave me $100 for the repairs." Wow.
At that moment, we were all in awe of God's mercy and provision. Ever want to feel like you're doing something God wants you to be doing? Man.
We arrived in San Diego a few hours later and that next morning we worshiped with hearts full of thanksgiving.
That day in the desert, God provided the miraculous. I have never been more sure of what I knew God wanted me to do. The discouragement meant to deter us from doing what God had for us was met with God's voice and guidance.
"If our God is for us, what can stand against?"
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