God decided to show off...

So it is obvious now that I really enjoy talking about Jackie Evancho. This post is no exception. The day before writing this I had the privilege of seeing her perform live, in person. But a few things happened.


This served as a countdown both through her twitpics down to the day before when she flew to Dallas, and as a countdown for my final hours before seeing her perform. I think she has improved in just the few weeks since this was recorded in Atlanta.




Then I got to see her. Here is the "review" that I wrote, hopefully with proper spelling [WARNING MASS READING AHEAD]

The entire day counting down to the performance was unique. First off, I could hardly sleep, and had to take multiple naps throughout the day to make up for that. I am rarely this excited for anything. Spending the entire day waiting was not easy, so I made an entire tribute video and posted it to YouTube in the morning and later that day did a workout and took my naps (one before and one after). Still had to wait several more hours; but… eventually the time came. After getting the best clothes on that I had (ones that were black and red, of course), “Off to Dallas” I was!

When I arrived (which is saying a lot in Dallas), I walked around for awhile. Eventually, I was able to meet up with a few other Jackie Fans (first by meeting Craig Rasmussen, who introduced me to several others) and we talked for awhile. Finally it came time to get to our seats.

After I was seated up front, stage left in the Orchestra section, the wait began once again. Strangely though, I wasn’t excited like I had been earlier. After leaving my house, I grew very calm. Sitting in my seat, I continued to feel very peaceful. As it turned out, this feeling was the calm before the storm. While sitting in my seat, I realized I didn’t know what I was in for. Boy, was I right about that. Seeing the Dallas Symphony Orchestra accompanying Jackie Evancho was quite the experience. Many professionals are beginning to say she could be the world’s best singer, if not history’s (she has some fans in high places it seems). Yeah… I didn’t know what I was in for.

My wait soon came to an end. The lights were dimmed and the conductor came out. The orchestra proceeded to play several pieces. I was trying to use my new found experience (read: three class sessions in music appreciation) to identify all the instruments and pick certain aspects of the songs out. As I found out, I had much to learn. This is what was going through my mind during this part (from what I can remember), “And that’s an oboe, I think. That’s an English horn. That’s a double bass, glad I got that one right. Those are timpani’s, and there’s the bass drum. And those are flutes… I think. And that’s an oboe. No! That looks nothing like an oboe! I just really like that name.” As you can probably tell, I was enjoying myself. I was new to the more classical style music as well, so it was very enjoyable to hear some live.

As the first piece progressed, I became very impressed. There were several parts where I felt like clapping or cheering if it had not been an orchestra. When the first piece was over, I determined I definitely thought it was worth a hearty clap (is there such a thing?), even though I had no clue what the piece actually was. The second piece played was nice as well, but I didn’t enjoy it as much. Always so picky…

When this second piece was done, the conductor announced Jackie coming up, which received a fair amount of applause. After saying this, he turned around and begins directing the orchestra through the beginning of “Lovers”, which is one of my favorite of Jackie’s songs. There was the steady build up in the intro, lasting a total of maybe 45 seconds to a minute. Mid way through this, Jackie walked out, which sent the crowd into uproar and standing ovation, drowning out the sound of the orchestra. Fortunately, the crowd managed to quiet down in time for the orchestra to finish the dramatic intro of the song, then it quieted down and Jackie began to sing.

The events that happened in this song are too blurred. She immediately held the entire audience captive. Even some others who sat by me, who I assumed who regulars at symphonies, seemed dead quiet. Fortunately for me, my seat was right in front of the large speakers, so I heard the song rather loudly. I always played this song louder then any others, so I didn’t complain AT ALL. When Jackie finished the song, there was a momentary silence as the orchestra finished fading out. I was in a daze or something, and it never even occurred to me to stand or clap or anything. But I didn’t have to remember, I was reminded when the entire audience stood up nearly at once and gave a standing ovation like I had never heard before. It put to shame even the standing ovation she received when she walked on stage. Jackie hadn’t seemed to be expecting this (I hadn’t either), and she was jumping around on the stage, curtsying, giving her trademark double wave, clapping with the audience, and I could she that she was laughing and had a bright beaming smile on her face.

Once the crowd died down from this standing ovation, the orchestra began “Ombra Mai Fu”. I recognized this one quickly, even though it was probably the song I enjoyed least on her CD. I never had enjoyed the overall tone of the song before, having this strange skipping/dancing/happy/sad blend to it that didn’t suit me (I liked the darker, deeper feeling songs such as “Lovers” which we had just heard). However, I wasn’t there for the song selection. I was there for the voice singing the songs. And in this particular song, Jackie does some very nice notes. I was always impressed by what she could do with this song, as it is an opera song I believe. It requires great skill to sing, and sing it she did. This song received LEAST applause from the audience out of all the songs, and by that I mean at least 15-20 seconds of shouts, cheers, and of course the standing ovation.

Finally I got to see the harp on stage in action. As soon as I had seen that harp before I knew what song it was for, and now here it was. The harp was for “The Lord’s Prayer”. This hadn’t been one of my favorites either, but hearing the orchestra perform it live made me appreciate it much more. Out of all the songs that night, I enjoyed hearing the orchestra perform this one the most (I think) beyond what I already felt about any song. Naturally though, hearing Jackie sing it was something else. I particularly felt something special when she sang “Thy Kingdom come” and the next several lines after, but that is for another time. Naturally, this received quite the uproar as well from the crowd once it was finished. Not a single song that night would go without a standing ovation and such major enthusiasm from the crowd. She also reacted strongly to the crowd here as well, since the crowd was giving her such applause.

After this, Jackie sang “All I Ask of You” and “To Believe”. By this time, I was so drawn into Jackie’s voice that afterwards I literally forgot that she sang these songs at this point! I remember my eyes being locked on her during these songs, especially “To Believe” to the exclusion of everything else. As a matter of fact, by the time she got to To Believe everything around Jackie was a blur in my eyes and my muscles were beginning to twitch. I can’t remember much else of what happened during these two songs, except that I was very surprised to here “All I Ask of You” (didn’t know she would sing that song) and enjoyed Jackie giving the spoken prayer during “To Believe”.

The next song was “O Mio Babbino Caro”. I recognized this one quickly as well, since it was the song that introduced me to her so long before it seemed. This was the song that made her famous on “America’s Got Talent” after all. As it was during most of the songs, I can’t remember what happened as she sang, I was to drawn in. This should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. She received a very animate standing ovation with the completion of this song as well, just as all the others.

When the intermission came after “O Mio Babbino Caro” I wasn’t sure what had happened. I don’t think I had ever been so focused on a song before. I wasn’t even capable of focusing on the orchestra. Once the intermission was over and everyone was seated, the orchestra began playing once again. This time, it took me a couple minutes to even notice there was music playing compared to what I had just experienced. Compared to Jackie’s voice live, very few things qualify as even note worthy music in my, oh so humble opinion.

It was time for Jackie to come back up. She was announced once again, and by this time I can hardly even remember what happened. Either she received another standing ovation as she entered or the orchestra began to play the mellow intro of “When You Wish Upon A Star” so the audience had to refrain. As it should go without saying once more, she received a standing ovation. I can’t even remember what happened because I was so drawn in.

My favorite song, “A Time For Us” was next. When I recognized the beginning of that song, I was pretty dang happy. Of course, I can’t remember much of what happened because my eyes, ears and mind were locked on watching perform to the exclusion of almost everything else. The irony of the situation is the most recent events I have the hardest time remembering. But, that’s Jackie for ya! However, I did remember that this song received some of the loudest, and longest, applause (and naturally all during a standing ovation).

“Angel” “The Impossible Dream” and “Pie Jesu” followed as the final songs. My memory is almost blank here, except for the fact that it was intense for me. However, it seems that “Pie Jesu”, which was supposed to be the encore song, was done without Jackie ever leaving the stage. The audience was giving her such a thundering applause (2,000+ people in a very well built acoustical room like that) that it was decided to do the encore immediately. This was one of the songs I was waiting for, and it was also one of the ones that made her famous on “America’s Got Talent”. She has moved so beyond that now. I’m pretty sure that the only reason there were people sitting during the standing ovations was because they either had knee problems or were in to much shock. I can’t prove this theory, of course, but I’m pretty sure that was the reason.

After she finished the final song, she received a very resounding applause once again. When that died down, she gave a short “thank you” speech and even, for the first time I had heard of, called us her “support”. She repeated that phrase multiple times. She is so mature and quick, but even the excitement got to her a bit as she stumbled with her sentences slightly (I have heard politicians do worse on their well rehearsed speeches, and I’m pretty sure this wasn’t rehearsed). Once she finished this, there was another standing ovation. When she exited the stage there was yet ANOTHER standing ovation, this one lasting nearly two whole minutes if not more. Jackie came up at least three, if not four for additional waves, curtsies, smiles, giggles, etc during this time.

Overall, this performance has locked Jackie even more solidly in as my favorite artist. No other artist or band even comes close now. She has broadened my tastes of music so much, and even given me songs that I may never tire of. I hope one day to witness her live in concert again.

A few other events that happened throughout the night. I can’t remember when these happened, just that they did.

The first was early on. After one of the standing ovations had died down, Jackie bent down to get a drink of water and someone shouted “Jackie say hi!” so she popped up and gave one of her cute little hi’s.

Of course, as I said, I had never witnessed her so excited from a crowd. While she was being cheered, it appeared she didn’t know whether she wanted to jump up and down, curtsy, tug on her dress, give her double wave, clap for the orchestra, or whatever else she was doing. Jackie was just having so much fun up there. Even those who are blind or deaf can enjoy Jackie.

At one point during a standing ovations (during one of the final ones I believe), Jackie was doing her jumps and curtsies and double waves, when she turned around and gave a double wave to the orchestra and those in the Choral Terrace. Nearly everyone up there stood up and gave her a double wave back. It was really something.

Another time was when someone shouted “Thank you” and Jackie said the same back.

My favorite by far was after this. When she had said “Thank you” back to the crowd there were many laughs and giggles in the audience. Jackie giggled at this to, then after a moment, gave a big double wave to the audience. This sent waves of laughter throughout the entire audience, amidst some clapping. I felt that the audience was on the verge of a standing ovation… for simply having Jackie wave at them. What other artists can do that?

A few other memorable moments for me happened outside in the lobby. My second favorite little moment was while I was walking out and heard someone behind me comment to a friend “I felt ambushed… but in a good way!” I am sure many others that night felt “ambushed” as well by Jackie’s charm and talent.

Other moments were when I was walking around and seeing people (especially grown, tough looking men) wearing Jackie shirts or proudly holding her cd in their hand (I even saw a man use it as a fan for his face, he didn’t want to let it get very far from him!)

There were probably many other wonderful moments I forgot, or even complete songs,  but it’s the experience that counts. I was there. I witnessed what may be the world’s, if not history’s, best singer live in her youth. I even learned many things about myself. So this is a review or critique, right? I only wish I could describe that night to you. So since I can’t, I will simply repeat something I have said before,

“God decided to show off, so he made Jackie Evancho”

My Warning

This post will be a little less about my thoughts on things, and more about my experiences. It will also serve as a warning. I will tell you a bit more about me here. And about some troubles I went through.

If you have read my blog at all it should hopefully be very obvious that I am a Christian. However, it is only recently that I have felt so strongly about being a Christian (I'm talking about in the last few months before writing this). The reason is because most of the message I had heard all my life, about Jesus Christ dying for my sins, had been watered down so much. I would hear it repeated again and again that He died for my sins, but without the background behind any of this being explained, it all seemed very unimportant (for lack of a better word) to me. Yes, I knew what everyone said was true, but it carried very little meaning.

Whenever I went to church or heard someone read from or quote the Bible, it was almost always out of the New Testament and from many of the same passages. The meaning behind these passages and even the entire New Testament was never properly explained to me. What do I mean by properly? I will get to that shortly.

I did study the Old Testament, and I also knew most of the Bible stories as well (or better than) other kids. However, it was treated as something to talk about and "learn" from on Sunday's or neat little stories to tell kids before bed. Oh boy, have my perspectives on those stories changed!

This is where my warning comes into play. Many, if not most of all Christians, are doing this. They are making these stories, these very valuable and historically true and scientifically accurate stories, seem only as children's tales. They are also making the Old Testament unpropotionately weak. And worse yet, the biggest problem I had to overcome, was the fact that othe Christians were unknowingly downplaying the Almighty's power. That is part of the reason I myself rarely use the terms "God" or "Jesus", is because they were the only terms I heard most of my life, and they have lost meaning to me. As hard as that is to admit, it is true. So instead, I choose to use other names for our Creator.

Now what I mean by downplaying the Almighty's power is the fact that it is not mentioned enough, and when it is, not emphasized enough. Yes, I know that in church miracles are spoken of all the time! Jesus rising up from the dead, turning water into wine, feeding thousands with almost nothing, and several others. The problem is, at least it was for me, is that no one put nearly enough empasis on any of these. The sermon would always lead into how He loves us and died for us, and all that. Since I already knew that and had heard it dozens of times (and had already accepted Him), it was difficult for these to have lots of meaning for me.

There were the periodic sermons that would spark an interest when someone really went into the power of the All Powerful, but it didn't happen enough. And I hardly remember at all anyone making the "children's tales" in the Bible seem as they truly were, miraculous examples of the power and might of the Lord of Heaven's Armies!

This doesn't make any sense at all! When you look at the Bible, first off you notice it starts in the Old Testament. Also, it starts by showing the Almighty's power! What happens first in the Bible? Creation. Everything from nothing, because of a supernatural act on the part of the Creator. In the Old Testament (which is far larger then the New Testament), you see example after example of the Almighty's power and justice. You also see some of His love for us and some glimpses at His mercy. His love and mercy are shown most in the New Testament, through the Messiah. However, that is after thousands of years of history and well over half of the Bible. Everything else, all these examples of His undeniable power, lead up to this.

So why all my life did people ignore everything leading up to the ultimate example of love and mercy in Christ? After all, the All Knowing didn't. Why then do we?

Well I can tell you this, it kept me a weak Christian. So please to not make the same mistake. Do not ignore the power of the Almighty! Speak of it first and foremost, and those who listen will always hear. Heed my warning, maybe others will be saved years of learning as I have.

Now, everything really hit me all at once just a few months ago. I was on vacation and was reading some books, one in particular was a commentary on the book of Job. Unlike other commentaries talking about the faith of Job and such, this commentary showed how the book of Job was "one of the most historically and scientifically accurate records of the ancient world". It focused more on the power, wisdom and knowledge of the God of Job. That was the biggest turn-a-round points for me. I devoured that book! Then I devoured the actual book of Job, rereading large portions several times. I had never read the Bible so passionately.

Within weeks of each other, event after event occured which made me more passionate about the Bible and my Christianity than ever before. I even began studying the Bible to help me better write my own books! In a period of several weeks, I felt more fear than I ever had before. And by fear, I mean fear of the Lord. I caught glimpse after glimpse of just how powerful He was. One example may be found in the first chapter of Genesis. During the creation account, it is said that "He [God] created the stars also". With that little sentence, the Almighty describes Himself creating most of the universe! Our little planet earth, which is so small it should hardly be given any thought in the Milkyway Galaxy, and that one galaxy out of so many hundreds of billions of others that it shouldn't be given any thought; this little planet was deemed so much more important than the rest of creation that the rest of the entire universe was pretty much described as "He created the stars also"!

I still have not fully grasped the signifigance of that one sentence, but the more I understand it the greater it is! The fact that He would create so much, yet choose this one little speck in the corner of the universe as the location where those who He made in His own image reside, is just astounding. This fear of Lord has put things into better perspective for me. There are times where anything beyond the moment doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what I have, how long I'll live, where I'll go when I die, or even if I'm a "good person". There are times where I am simply frozen in sheer awe at His power. Those are the best times of worship I have ever had. Where I am simply overwhelmed with the knowledge of how insignifigant I am, in terms of power. Compared to the universe and all that the Creator controls, I seem as nothing!

Now, I am still studying farther and have more and more revalations of His power since these events. I mainly study the Old Testament, to learn the history and signifigance of the New Testament. Reading of the miracles and power surrounding those such as Noah, or Abraham, Jacob, and others has been a great experience for me. And for once, I read these stories not as children's stories, but as HIStory. Some days I still struggle to actually pick up my Bible, but when I do pick it up, it is with great enthusiasm.

Overall my warning is to make sure that things to not repeat. Christianity once seemed almost boring for me. Everything in the New Testament was dull. Now that I am studying the Old Testament and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it is constantly giving new life to the New Testament.

Also, my hope and prayer for eveyone who ever reads this is that they will also one day be able to experience what I am experiencing. This closeness, understanding and fear of their Creator. Not fear of retaliation or harm, but a fear composed of awe and wonder at something so much greater than ourselves! That is what Christianity is about! The most powerful being to ever exist, who created the universe and defined the laws of physics, who caused time to begin and to one day end, who can wipe out everything that exists with a mere thought; Christianity is about this All Powerful Creator wanting to know us. To know me...

The Theology of Books

I am not sure the name of this post is the most accurate description, but it's what I came up with. This post is about something I came to realize about both how man made stories work and how the real world works in relation to the Creator. I have a few points and revalations here, not sure how many I will get to. I will simply type them as they come to mind.

My first one, which I believe I understand the best, is how the Almighty can be outside of our time. Now, just the name alone should tell you how, but I mean I understand on a more intimate level, I suppose. By that I mean I understand it on a level deeper than words. Hard to explain, but if you understand something on that deep of level, you know what I mean.

To explain it, I need to explain to you how I came to understand all of these principles or whatever. I am writing a couple of books. I have been using the analogy of myself as a writer over the worlds in my books to relate to how the Creator is over this world (and everything else).

My first big revalation, as I remember, was how He is outside of our time. I don't know if you have ever written a book or script or anything, but as you write it, you are outside the time of the world inside that book or story. That is how it is with my books. I know the end and the begining. I know what will happen to my characters long before they do. I can experience their future or past as if it were my present. The entire lifetime of one of my characters can seem as a moment to me. It is the same with us and the Creator of this universe. If anyone would like a deeper explanation, just ask. I could make a whole post about it if I pushed it.

One of my next revalations was how things like miracles and other strange things could work in stories. If you are accustomed to thinking from a perspective with no higher power, such as athiests and others try to do, you believe you must do everything on your own. Same thing with stories. At first, I was writing it as though there were no higher power. But, the way I was writing made that impossible. I was writing it through the eyes of one of the characters, but about things that he was not there to experience. Or in same cases, possibly no one was there to experience. I tried to come up with scenarios that would explain how he could write about these things that he wasn't there to experience. In some cases, the very things that happened in other's minds. How could my characters know the secret thoughts of another? Or know what they felt? Or know what an animal did when no one was around? Simple; me, as the creator of that world, would tell him.

As the creator of that world, I am have power that none of them understand. I want the entire world to turn into a hotdog? All I must do is imagine it, and all of the mountains, oceans, forests and so one will all be one large hotdog. I want a character to just barely survive a battle? He will. Just as I say it will be. I want an asteroid storm? It will happen. It is similar to how the Creator of this world works, except on a much larger scale. Imagine how weak a thought in your head is compared to you. You have control over your imagination, if you want something to happen in there, it does. It is even more so with the Almighty and his creation. And me, as a writer, am just living out a smaller version of what He does. I am, after all, created in His image.

This concept is based off something I read in one of C.S. Lewis's books. He called it "sub-creation". That is a more... philosphical term, for lack of a better word, than imagination is. His theory was since we were made in the image of the Creator, and obviously the Creator loved to create, we should too. Others of his period (and all times in history of that) thought it ungodly to make our own worlds in our minds. Lewis believed just the opposite! By making our own sub-creations, we are merely praising the Lord once again! I don't recall him putting it that way, that was me, but you should hopefully get my point. Our sub-creations aren't offensive to the Lord, unless we make them so, they are actually what He planned for us to do! At least that is what I believe.

I will make my last point here. It is a revalation I made about how anything we do, such as doing our boring, everyday job, or just about anything else that doesn't seem like worship in church, could still be praising the Creator. I realized this, just like everything else here, because of my "sub-creations" and relating to the real creation and it's Creator. Everything that happens in my made up worlds, good or bad, is a testament to my imagination. There is a mighty storm, it is a testament of my power over the world of my imagination. A young soldier who is mocked in the military yet keeps his morals strong? A testament to the power of what I created in that world. This can be applied to everything in my sub-creations. Even if it is something evil, it still shows my power over my creation.

Same thing in the real world. A man is mocked for his faith? It is a testament to what the Almighty has made, such strong faith. There is a mighty storm killing millions? Yet another testament to the Almighty. An insane tyrant murdering or enslaving thousands and causing many great evils? Still, a testament to the Lord. That tyrant will be punished as he deserves, but it is still a testament of the Lord's power. And everytime something in my sub-creations testafies to my power over it, I am testafying to the Lord his power. For without me, nothing in my sub-creation could happen; it wouldn't even exist. Without the Creator of all that we see here, I would not even exist.

I have more I could add. I will likely make another post in the future. If you liked what you read here, comment and let me know. I can make another post. Ask questions, share this, stuff like that; please. I want to know what people think of my ponderings.