My daughter Heather called me last Saturday night and wanted to know if I wanted to go to Country Stampede. She had free tickets if I wanted to go. I glanced outside at the weather and you could tell that the weather was going to be a factor in my decision. I asked," Who's playing tonight? "" Jason Aldean." was her reply. :Yeah, I'd like to go, maybe it won't rain." Those were my famous last words.
Yeah, I might win the lottery. I might get a big raise. I might get promoted to CEO of Kroger. I might write a hit song and quit my grocery store job next week. So I grabbed my umbrella and out the door I ran to go hear my favorite Jason Aldean song. The truth. Talking about the truth. If you are taking an umbrella, deep down you know it's gonna rain.
We arrived at the concert and were parked over by Lawrence. Lawrence is the next city east of Topeka by about 20 miles. It just felt like twenty miles after walking all day at work. We paid fifteen dollars to park. Not a bad deal. Heather, her husband Anthony, and my two grandkids, Alyssa, Aiden and me going to a concert for fifteen bucks.
Looking good. We made it to the concert and no rain. We set up our lawn chairs and sat down to enjoy some music. We listed to three songs and the rain started. Over the intercom an announcement was made. "Please clear the pit area and move away from the stage. A thunderstorm is headed this way. Please go to the campgrounds and seek cover. The Jason Aldean concert will be backed up but will still take place.
Decision time. Do we walk all the way back to our car? What if it blows over quickly? We decided to take cover in one of the tents that hosted live music. It was a big white carnival looking tent with open side but a place to stay kinda dry. The storm hit like a fury. The wind was blowing, thunder boomed and lighting lit up the sky. Alyssa, my eleven year old granddaughter started crying because she was scared. I was too, I wasn't sure that tent was the best place to take cover. Especially since about a month ago, I had saw my niece's house that had been blown away by the tornado that hit Linwood, Ks.
We all huddle together trying to stay dry as the rain poured down. Praying quietly that the storm would pass over but the rain continued to pour. I noticed the lead singer of the band. He grabbed his acoustic guitar and was getting ready to play a song. I thought, this could be good. It might help to take our minds off of the storm. I was wrong.
He started singing a Hank Jr. song called Family Tradition. You all know it, "Tell me Hank why do you drink? Why do you smoke? Why must you live out the songs that you wrote? Yeah, I know all the words to the song but it was definitely the wrong song at the wrong time. The crowd started singing off key and slurring their words as the storm eased up a bit.
He could of sang, How Great Thou Art,, Amazing Grace, or any one of a hundred hymns. Didn't we want God to protect us in this situation? And the best song that he could come up with was Family tradition. This was one of those defining moments. It was time to leave the safety of the tent and head for the car. We would trust God for our safety out in the storm.
God is in control of the storms of your lives. He knows when we are in a bad situation and he is still there. We just need to trust him. He led us safely to our car and as we sat through the thunderstorm that continued to pour down rain. I am thankful for his safety. It could have been a bad situation if the storm had turned worse. I guess trusting in God is part of my Family Tradition.