Better Blessed Than Lucky!

When I lived in San Jose, I was very blessed to have some great friends. Thank God they're still very much part of my life today. Among those friends is a good man who holds a rather prestigious role with the San Jose Sharks hockey team. On many occasions, he invited me as his guest to watch games in his suite, which were the best seats in the house.

Tuesday night I was the beneficiary of another blessing similar to my fortune with hockey games. A friend of mine told me he might have an extra ticket to the Gaither Homecoming concert at the Arco Arena in Sacramento. I admit, I love that stuff. There were a lot of cars in the lot which were parked a little helter skelter, and the handicapped spots filled up fast. I was among the younger folks in attendance. But I was actually blessed with not only one ticket, but FOUR...in a luxury suite, no less! So I was able to bless three other people! The suite was center stage, looking straight at it without obstruction.

I'd much rather be blessed than lucky!

It was a pretty fun night. There are so many wonderful singers on the Gaither circuit. Among them is the man whose voice was my first major vocal influence when I started singing. His name is Russ Taff (right). He has such passion in his voice. He has a sound and a style that is all his own. I was so excited to see him sing. It had been about 22 years since I last saw him sing in person. But on this night, Russ was just one of many great singers. One standout who sang is named Jason Crabb. Keep an eye out for his music. He's phenomenal.

The show is unique. Fortunately, I had received a tip from a friend that these concerts are L-O-N-G. And were they right. I left at 10 PM...during the intermission! Yes, it was practically 3 hours into the show until they got to the intermission. Other friends of mine who went said it finished about 11:30 or so.

It was a great night. I had to fight back tears on more than one occasion as my spirit was stirred, but on the final song of my night, the Gaither Vocal Band sang one of the their all time classics, It Is Finished. That song did me in. I couldn't fight it back any longer. I will end this post with a link to some pictures I took, and a video of It Is Finished as performed by the Gaither Vocal Band in a previous performance (in it, Russ Taff sings the second verse, after Bill sings).

Click here for the pictures.