It was an early part of the Summer, one of those days when the heat starts to show up.
Granted, it wasn't unbearably hot. It wasn't hot enough to feel restless, but like I said...it was coming.
I was in Missouri, working at Kids Across America, a Christian Sports camp for inner city youth. Before the kids arrive at the camp, the counselors are there for a little over a week to prepare the camp for the kids' arrival. This Staff Training Week encompasses everything from camp upkeep and protocol to bible studies and fellowship.
Drawing closer to the end of the Staff Training Week, we began to relax on the upkeep duties and prepare ourselves spiritually for the task that lay ahead of us, both in and out of camp's gates. Some of us were staying for one term, which is three eight-day sessions, others were staying for two terms. A few were dedicating their entire summers to camp, a full 9 sessions.
For one of our final camp-wide fellowship meetings, we met in the gym at one of the camps. Now picture this: possibly hundreds of college aged students gathered in a cramped gym, during the dawn of the summer, in the middle of the country (read: the boonies), with absolutely NO air-conditioning or air-freshener. Never mind to that whole "groups-of-black-people-naturally-give-off-heat" thing. Body heat is body heat, and there was much of body heat that night. My glasses were fogging up, I was bumping into folk I didn't know, my deodorant had worn off long since that morning...it should have been a mess.
The dj running the sound system started playing music. The speaker hadn't come up yet, so we were all anticipating the message. Each song played was choice and lively, probably all in an attempt to keep us focused.
Then he played "Melodies from Heaven", from Kirk Franklin's "Whatcha Lookin' For?" album. Any fan of Gospel music knows this song in and out. No, not just black people.
On cue, folk starting singing. And it started out playful, because we had actually tried this a few days prior, a Capella. That attempt failed like Sisqo's career, but with the accompaniment of the track behind us, we all had a new sense of confidence. With each line, the group's tone grew more triumphant.
Chorus
Melodies from Heaven
Rain down on me (2x)
2x
Take me in Your arms and hold me close
Rain down on me (2x)
Fill me with your precious Holy Ghost
Rain down on me (2x)
Repeat from Chorus
Tenors: Rain(1st)
Sopranos: Rain down on me(2nd)
Altos: Let let let let let it fall on me(2nd)
4x
Melodies from Heaven (4x)
Rain down on me (repeat till end)
Something amazing happened in that room that night. I have head countless scripture about how the heavens sing out and how there is such joy in heaven. I've had classes point out which angels sing and why. But that night in Missouri, almost 200 college students put everything on pause for one unified purpose.
Family issues? Pause.
Relationship troubles? Pause.
Financial woes? Pause.
Political affiliation? Pause.
Public scrutiny? Pause.
Religious denomination? Pause.
God. That was is. Just him.
I have never been a part of such a beautiful event, before or since. I've been in church before, and I've been on choirs and choruses. But never have I been more at peace than when in a random assortment of blacks, whites, men, women, Pacific Islanders, unemployed, drop-outs, students, Trinidadians, Jamaicans, football players, band geeks, cheerleaders, Democrats, Republicans, suburbanites, hood aficionados, sanctified sinners, all gathered to wholeheartedly sing OUT LOUD, with arms stretched HIGH, some crying out, without a care to anything else but to simply PRAISE HIM.
Just to praise Him.
I believe that night, I caught a glimpse of an idea of what heaven is like.
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